KYLE E. KRULL, P.A.
5209 W. 164th Street
Overland Park, KS 66085
phone:
fax:
e-mail:
fax:
e-mail:
Free Reports
Organize your estate with our
Estate Organizer Kit
Estate planning challenges for business owners
Business Owners Beware
Plan for loved ones with special needs
Special People...Special Plans
Make sure your loved ones know your Last Wishes. Download our
Last Wishes Kit
Estate Tax Planning
in Kansas and Missouri
Under current law, unless the President and Congress make changes, the federal estate tax has been repealed for just one year: 2010. And, unless the President and Congress make changes before New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2010, then reinstituted (with a vengeance) on January 1, 2011, with a $1 million exemption and a maximum rate of 55 percent. Accordingly, the federal estate tax is in a state of flux and the only certainty is its uncertainty. Nevertheless, it is wise keep a close eye on the political developments, both in the White House and on Capitol Hill. Be sure to visit this website often to stay informed as changes inevitably occur.
Historically speaking, the federal estate tax is an excise tax levied on the transfer of a person's assets after death. In actuality, it is neither a death tax nor an inheritance tax, but more accurately a transfer tax. There are three distinct aspects to federal estate taxes that comprise what is called the Unified Transfer Tax: Estate Taxes, Gift Taxes, and Generation- Skipping Transfer Taxes. Legal planning to avoid or minimize federal estate taxes is both a prudent and an important aspect of comprehensive estate planning.
Estimate Your Estate Tax Liability with our Estate Tax Calculator
If and when the
federal estate tax is reinstated, knowing your potential estate tax
liability will be a necessary part of estate tax planning. Use this
calculator to estimate your estate tax liability. You can also use it to
project the value of your estate, and the associated estate tax, for the
next ten years.
Click here to use
the Estate Tax Calculator
Gift Taxes
While the federal estate tax is currently repealed for 2010, gift taxes live on. There is currently a $1 million shelter for lifetime taxable gifts and a $13,000 exclusion (per donor) per year. The $13,000 annual exclusion does not count against the $1 million lifetime gift exclusion nor the applicable exclusion amount for estate taxes. If you give away more than the annual gift exclusion limit ($13,000 in 2010) however, to any one person in a year, the gift counts against your $1 million lifetime taxable gift exclusion and,ultimately, against your applicable exclusion amount (if one is reinstated as part of a future federal estate tax). So, if you gave your child a gift of $113,000 this year, you would have used up $100,000 of your $1 million lifetime taxable gift exclusion and, in turn, that ultimately would reduce your exclusion for estate taxes, too.
Married couples can double their annual gift exclusion by "gift splitting," whereby a gift made by one is considered to be made by both, even if only one spouse actually owned or contributed the property. Lifetime gifting strategies can be prudent ways to minimize federal estate taxes. Not only do such gifts reduce the value of your current estate, but such gifts remove the future taxation and appreciation of such assets as well.
Generation-Skipping Taxes
The Generation Skipping Transfer (GST) tax was enacted in 1976 to prevent families from avoiding the estate tax for one or more generations by transferring assets directly to grandchildren or great- grandchildren rather than passing them through each generation. [Note: The GST exemption amount was equal to the estate tax exemption amount of $3.5 million in 2009.] Planning to minimize estate taxes often includes trusts designed to utilize the GST exemption ($3.5 million in 2009) as well as the estate tax exclusion (also $3.5 million in 2009).
Kansas Estate Taxes
Effective January 1, 2010, Kansas has no estate tax and, since July
1, 1998, Kansas has had no "inheritance tax."
See http://www.ksrevenue.org/pdf/forms/k-706after0107inst.pdf
Missouri Estate Taxes
Effective January 1, 2005, Missouri has no estate tax (i.e., the date the IRS no longer allowed a state death tax credit on the Form 706 Federal Estate Tax return under EGTRRA 2001). See http://dor.mo.gov/tax/personal/estate/