a. How the Federal Gift and Estate Tax Work Together

The federal gift tax is part of what’s called the “unified” federal gift and estate tax. Gift tax applies to lifetime gifts; estate tax applies to assets left at death. The idea is that whether you give assets away while you’re alive, or leave them at your death, they’re taxed the same way, at the same rate. After all, if there were no gift tax, then anyone could completely avoid the estate tax by giving everything away just before death.

Very few Americans need to worry about federal estate tax or the federal gift tax. Why? Because under current law, each of us has a lifetime gift and estate tax exemption of $ 5.25 million, which means that you can leave or give away up to $ 5.25 million without owing any Read More