Estate tax may be tougher to avoid

Estate tax may be tougher to avoid with changes proposed by the Treasury Department.  The following article from the Washington Post explains why.

“The 'death tax' will soon be tougher to dodge

The Treasury Department on Tuesday proposed a crackdown on wealthy families attempting to avoid the estate tax.

The tax, dubbed the “death tax” by critics, is levied on estates worth more than $5.45 million per person, or $10.86 million per couple. Anything above that level is supposed to be taxed at up to 40 percent.

But relatively few families subject to the tax pay that much; typically their hit is about 16.6 percent, according to some estimates.

“Really, anyone who is not on death’s doorstop with a good [estate] planner can get the rate down to zero. Sixteen percent is a high effective rate,” said Robert Lord, a tax attorney based in Arizona.

Now the Treasury Department has proposed new regulations it says will make it harder for families to avoid estate taxes."  Continue reading at Washington Post