Angela Tang, CPA
Estate and Trust Supervisor
Election day on November 3rd is upon us, and the outcome may determine the future landscape for Estate and Gift Tax policy for next year and beyond. High Net Worth Individuals (HNW) should consider the potential changes for individual lifetime estate and gift tax exemption amounts and take appropriate actions to meet their individual estate tax planning goals.
Currently, individuals are able to gift or bequest $11.58 million, free of estate and gift taxes, to their beneficiaries. The amounts will sunset after 2025 to $5 million (inflation indexed) as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. There is speculation that a change in administration and Congress might affect the current estate and gift tax lifetime exemption back to 2009 levels, which could potentially go into effect as early as January 1, 2021.
We are aware that our estate planning attorney and valuation expert colleagues have been extremely busy over the last few months assisting their clients with preparing various scenarios to consider taking in the event of major changes with the election next week. The availability between now and year end is quickly filling up as many HNW individuals are reworking their estate plans to go into effect by December 31, 2020.
Therefore, we highly encourage our HNW clients to consider contacting your estate planning attorney or Wright Ford Young & Co. tax specialist as soon as possible to discuss what actions you should take, if any, before year end. Please click here if you would like to contact us to discuss further.
Wright Ford Young & Co. is headquartered in Irvine, CA and is the largest single office CPA firm in Orange County. WFY is a full service corporate accounting firm offering audit, tax, estate and trust, and business consulting services to closely held company and family business owners. More information about our Firm can be found at www.cpa-wfy.com