Do I Have To Worry About Estate Tax?

Most people don’t have to worry about estate tax. But there is estate tax. There is no estate tax at the state level, so California does not have estate tax. Other states do. So if you have assets in other states, you may be subject to estate tax in those other states. At the federal level that is a 5.45 million dollar exemption to estate tax. Meaning, if you have less than 5.45 million dollars in your estate at the time of death then you’re not going to have to pay estate tax. Well, your estate will not have to pay it. And if you are married it’s cumulative so you will have close to 11 million dollars in exemptions. And the exemption is indexed for inflation so it goes up every year. If you are around those figures you should be considering estate tax planning. You should also know that estate tax is subject to Congress, so it does change. So if Congress doesn’t get much done it could happen and the tax laws could change. So it’s something that you have to keep an eye on.