I apologize for being too lazy to look this up.
Since there is no federal estate tax for decedents passing in 2010, does that mean that there is no basis step up on certain appreciated assets?
- posted
13 years ago
Basis step up for 2010
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- posted
13 years ago
There IS basis step up. It's a limited amount and gets allocated amongst assets by the executor or estate representative. Up to $1.3 million in basis increase (not to exceed fair market value). Plus up to an additional $3 million of basis increase may be allocated to certain property going to or owned by the surviving spouse.
Here's the relevant law:
On the other hand, two competing fixes are being floated in Congress again. One of them, very unlikely to actually pass and survive any challenges, is a backdated fix to the beginning of the year. Since a multi-billionaire has died in this period of time, there are some folks out there with billions of dollars to lose on this - you can bet they'll fight such a retroactive fix all the way to the supreme court.
Both fixes reimpose the $3.5 million threshold, one of them with rates that reach 60% (for estates over $1 billion, via a "surtax").