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Basis when inheriting spouse is a resident alien

Husband is a U.S. citizen and wife is a resident alien (green card). They live in NY state. Husband dies. Does wife get a step up in basis of inherited stocks for income tax purposes? Thanks.

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Mopsa
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in NY state.  Husband dies.  Does wife get a step up in basis of inherited stocks

Sorry. Yes, if death was in 2011. Yes, if the death was in 2010 and you elect to pay estate tax. If in 2010 and you don't elect to pay estate tax, you can step-up the stock if the total amount of step-up in your assets is $1.3 million.

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in NY state. Husband dies. Does wife get a step up in basis of inherited stocks for income tax purposes?

Generally, a green-card holder is treated the same as a US citizen for tax purposes, so yes.

-Mark B.

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Mark Bole

Thank you for the reply. Since date of death seems to be a factor, what if the situation is the same but husband's death occurred in 2000? Would surviving green-card wife get a step-up when inheriting deceased citizen husband's stocks? There were/would have been no estate taxes due because estate wasn't large enough to incur them, regardless of who the inheritor was.

in NY state. Husband dies. Does wife get a step up in basis of inherited stocks

Sorry. Yes, if death was in 2011. Yes, if the death was in 2010 and you elect to pay estate tax. If in 2010 and you don't elect to pay estate tax, you can step-up the stock if the total amount of step-up in your assets is $1.3 million.

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Mopsa

the situation is the same but husband's death occurred in 2000?  Would

husband's stocks? There were/would have been no estate taxes due because

Correct, in all years besides 2010 you had to pay estate tax. In 2000 the estate exemption was 675k and in 2010/2011/2012 it is 5M according to this:

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Of course, he he made any gifts beyond the annual exemption (currently

13k) amount during his lifetime he would have filed a gift tax return and used up his lifetime exemption. The estate exemption gets reduced by the lifetime gift tax exemption, so it's possible that even if your estate is 300k you still might have pay estate tax if you used up 375k or more of your lifetime gift exemption.
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