By J.M. Megail Gaumer
While to most people there may not exist a good time to pass away, super rich Americans may feel differently.
George Steinbrenner recently passed with an estate of over $1 billion dollars. What that means to his heirs is approximately $500 million that they will receive as an inheritance simply because he died in the right year. Had he died in 2009, the same $500 million would have been paid to cover his federal estate tax bill.
While in 2009 the federal estate tax rate was 45% after a $3.5 million exemption the rate is scheduled to return in 2011 at 55% after only a $1 million exemption. What will the government do??? Who knows, Congress could reinstate the estate tax and make it retroactive to January 1, 2010.
One thing to know is, don’t leave your estate planning to the government. Whether you’re as wealthy as George Steinbrenner, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or just a third generation family farmer, you need to plan to pass away. After all, with so few certainties in life we do know that we all have to live, die and pay taxes… (at least we thought we did).
