On Jan. 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) was signed into law and, in part, made permanent the concept of “portability,” which was previously an option for the estates of certain decedents who died after Dec. 31, 2010. Portability allows the personal representative of an estate the opportunity to preserve a deceased spouse’s unused federal estate and/or gift tax exemption amount for later use by the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse may retain the exemption of his or her “last deceased spouse.”
Portability can potentially save a family millions of dollars. Although the federal estate and/or gift tax exemption amount is now $5.34 million per individual (and scheduled to be adjusted annually for inflation), portability can be a game-changer in those situations where the value of a married couple’s assets exceeds the single exemption amount.
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