On September 27, a group of Democratic House members introduced what they consider to be compromise estate tax relief legislation. Members introducing the legislation have been led to believe by top White House officials that President Clinton would sign the compromise estate tax relief bill that they have introduced.
The significant provisions of the legislation (i.e. Death Tax Relief Now Act of 2000) are as follows:
1) Double the applicable credit amount against estate and gift tax from the current amount of $675,000 to $1,300,000 and then gradually increase the credit to $2,000,000 for an individual or $4,000,000 per married couple by 2009;
2) Index the unified credit for inflation;
3) Reduce the top tax rate from 55% to 39.6% and reduce all other estate tax rates by 20%.
4) Increase the maximum number of partners permitted in a partnership from 15 to 75 for the purpose of qualifying an interest in a closely-held business for the purposes of extension of time and installment payment of estate tax.
We will continue to monitor the legislative process regarding this bill and will post bulletins on our website, www.saul.com, with any updates.
Estate Tax Relief Legislation
This article was edited and reviewed by FindLaw Attorney Writers | Last reviewed March 26, 2008
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