The Tax Professionals Blog — estate tax

On April 20, 2016, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) introduced legislation that he said would bring fairness to the tax code by restoring the estate tax and gift tax to the more sensible levels that were in effect in 2009. While it is hard to know at this time what the fate of this bill will be, this proposal points to the importance of tax preparers and estate planners’ carefully evaluating the need to file a 706 to make the deceased spousal unused exclusion election (portability election).