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Symposium
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Cantor Arts Center
Cultural Heritage and African Art
2012 Ruth K. Franklin Lectures on the Arts
9:30-4pm January 21, 2012

Symposium
The Future of the Past:
Collecting Ancient Art in the 21st Century

March 18, 2012, 10:30 am
The Asia Society Museum
725 Park Avenue
New York NY 10021-5088

with Naman Ahuja
Kate Fitz Gibbon

Kurt A. Gitter
Arthur Houghton
James Lally

James McAndrew

Marc Wilson


Western Museums Association
76th Annual Meeting

September 23-26, 2011
Hawai‘i Convention Center, Honolulu
WMA Business Luncheon Keynote Address
Monday Sept. 26
Kate Fitz Gibbon


Estate Planning‎ > ‎

Estate Taxes

What are Estate Taxes?

The saying goes that there is no escaping death or taxes. It hardly seems fair, but an ordinary tax return must be filed for the last taxable year of a person’s life. Estate tax is different. Estate taxes are high but there is an excluded amount that changes year by year that can pass free of tax. For U.S. citizens in 2008, the excluded amount was $2 million. For 2009, the exclusion amount was $3,500,000. There was no estate tax in 2010, but the rules concerning the valuation of inherited assets, called the "tax basis," changed in a way that is not favorable to a beneficiary. Congress has passed a new law, retroactive to January 1, 2010 that allows one of two options for 2010. Personal Representative may opt to have no estate tax and the original tax basis in inherited property, or they may utilize the 2011 rates, which are 35% tax on the amount over $5 million dollars. Between 2011 and 2012, the excluded amount will be $5 million dollars in value, with an estate tax of 35% on assets over that amount.

Estate taxes apply to the total fair market value of the deceased’s estate, including houses, life insurance, bank and stock accounts, savings bonds, IRAs, jewelry and other personal effects, and other assets on the date of death. Final medical bills, funeral expenses, administration costs, gifts to charity, and attorney's fees are subtracted from this number to calculate the net taxable estate. If a death occurs in 2011, estate tax will generally be due when the net taxable estate exceeds $5,000,000.
If an estate is over the $5 million dollar threshold, there are still a number of ways of transferring wealth that reduce taxation, too complex to discuss in these brief notes.