Tax Cut Extensions Help, But Only in the Short Term

In a recent teleconference sponsored by the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, practitioners expressed satisfaction with short term fixes to transfer tax uncertainties, but continued to voice concern over longer term planning uncertainties.  One practitioner, Beth Shapiro Kauffman of Caplin & Drysdale, claimed the tax cut extension resolved 90 percent of the uncertainties.  Kauffman also estimated that the $5 million exclusion would result in only 2,800 estate tax returns and noted that the IRS would have enough manpower to audit every return.

See "Estate Tax Legislation Creates Only Temporary Certainty," 2010 TNT 247-1 (December 22, 2010).

Posted by James G. Haskell, Senior Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.