House Ways and Means Committee Votes to Repeal the Estate and GST Taxes

House Ways and Means Committee Votes to Repeal the Estate and GST Taxes By a vote of 22 to 10, the House Ways & Means Committee (“W&M”) on March 25, 2015, voted to pass H.R. 1105, the “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015.” Currently the Estate Tax is imposed on estates valued at $5,430,000 (the basic exclusion amount) or higher for taxpayers dying in 2015. There is also a Generation Skipping Tax (“GST”) which is imposed on either outright transfers or transfers in trust to beneficiaries more than one generation below the transferor's generation. Both the estate and GST taxes are imposed at 40% (I.R.C. Sec. 2001(c)) of the amount in excess of the basic exclusion amount. The tax is based upon a unified system so that lifetime taxable gifts are added to transfers at death. The Republican dominated W&M has proposed estate tax repeal. The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015 – if enacted - would repeal the estate and GST tax for estates of decedents dying, and generation-skipping transfers made, on or after the date of enactment. While the Estate and GST taxes would be eliminated, the proposed bill would retain the gift tax with its current tax rate of 35%. The lifetime gift tax exemption amount ($5,430,000 for 2015) under the proposed bill would remain the same as under present law and the gift tax annual exclusion ($14,000 for 2015) would continue to apply. The proposed bill does not change the basis rules for income tax purposes. Thus the basis of assets acquired by gift would retain its current basis while assets acquired from a decedent would obtain a stepped up basis - the fair market value of the asset on the date of death or on the alternate valuation date (the earlier of six months after the decedent's death or the date the property was sold or distributed by the estate). Should this bill make it through the House of Representatives and Senate, the likelihood that it will be signed by the President is remote. President Obama has indicated (through The President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2016 issued earlier this year) that not only does he want to retain the estate and GST taxes, but believes the current threshold for imposing the taxes ($5,430,000) is too high and wants to tax estates and skips starting at $3,500,000. Stay tuned as the path that this bill might take strongly affects estate planning. For those readers in states that impose an estate tax, this bill, if enacted, may have an effect on the state tax as well but states looking for estate tax revenue may choose to decouple their laws from the federal laws (if they have not done so already). As this author is in New Jersey, I can state that the New Jersey State Estate Tax has remained since 2001 at the same number: there is a tax on estates in excess of $675,000. Thus, estate planning at this time must be done very carefully by an estate planner familiar with the laws of the state and federal governments to weave through the morass of laws.