Rumors are flying around that the “Supercommittee” will slash the lifetime gift tax exclusion from $5 million to $1 million effective November 23, as Paul Singleton notes. Should we panic?
I doubt the rumors are correct. Any tax package coming out of the SuperDuperCommittee will be part of a bigger deal, and that doesn’t seem close.
The lack of specifics about any other piece of the tax puzzle also makes me doubtful. These things don’t happen by themselves. The gift tax thing would almost have to be part of a larger deal involving the estate tax, and no rumors have emerged about that.
So there’s no reason to panic. Still, if you have a gift ready to go that would use some of the lifetime exclusion over $1 million, it sure wouldn’t hurt to get it completed by next Tuesday.
Tags: Estate planning, gift tax, Paul Singleton, Supercommittee, tax policy
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No deal. The whole purpose of the Super Committee is to not reach a deal, and then for one side to walk away all upset about not reaching the deal that wasn’t supposed to be reached in the first place.