by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com Washington
02 December 2019
On November 22, 2019, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations confirming that individuals taking advantage of the increased gift and estate tax exclusion amounts in effect from 2018 to 2025 will not be adversely impacted after 2025 when the exclusion amount is scheduled to drop to pre-2018 levels.
Treasury Decision 9884, available in the Federal Register, implements changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. The IRS said that though the final regulations largely adopt the proposed regulations published in November 2018, they also include clarifying technical language addressing concerns raised in several public comments as well as four examples which, among other things, illustrate the impact of inflation adjustments.
According to the IRS, as a result of these changes, individuals planning to make large gifts between 2018 and 2025 can do so without concern that they will lose the tax benefit of the higher exclusion level once it decreases after 2025.
In general, gift and estate taxes are calculated, using a unified rate schedule, on taxable transfers of money, property and other assets. Any tax due is determined after applying a credit – formerly known as the unified credit – based on an applicable exclusion amount.
The applicable exclusion amount is the sum of the basic exclusion amount (BEA) established in the statute, and other elements, if applicable, described in the final regulations. The credit is first used during life to offset gift tax and any remaining credit is available to reduce or eliminate estate tax.
The TCJA temporarily increased the BEA from USD5m to USD10m for tax years 2018 through 2025, with both dollar amounts adjusted for inflation. For 2019, the inflation-adjusted BEA is USD11.4m. In 2026, the BEA will revert to the 2017 level of USD5m as adjusted for inflation.
To address concerns that an estate tax could apply to gifts exempt from gift tax by the increased BEA, the final regulations provide a special rule that allows the estate to compute its estate tax credit using the higher of the BEA applicable to gifts made during life or the BEA applicable on the date of death.