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AICPA Tax Basis Issues
By Children’s Home Society of Florida Foundation
At a July 27, 2010 conference sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Treasury Representative Catherine Hughes discussed the basis issues that are arising concerning 2010 decedents.
2010 Estate Tax Repeal
While the estate tax is repealed during 2010, under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 1022 there are new and complex rules on basis adjustments. For large estates, a majority of the assets will be transferred with a “flow through” of the basis. That is, the heirs will be able to use the basis of the decedent in any future sales for the purpose of reporting capital gain. Because many decedents have few or no records of the basis, it is quite possible that these heirs will pay capital gains tax on the full value of future sales.
Allowances for Basis “Step-Up”
However, there are allowances for a basis “step-up” of $1.3 million. In addition, for a surviving spouse, the basis step-up can be $3 million. The step-up in basis cannot be greater than the fair market value of the applicable property. Determining how to allocate the adjusted basis step-up in an estate has caused great concern among estate planning attorneys and CPAs. Treasurer Representative Hughes stated, “I anticipate there will be a lot of mistakes where there isn’t an affirmative allocation” of basis. Treasury is studying the situation and may issue guidance with recommended default allocation rules.
Assessment
While Congress continues to debate estate tax law and, therefore, has not made any decision on a potential retroactive estate tax, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center this week released an estimate of the potential number of 2011 taxable estates. If a $1 million exemption is applicable in 2011, there will be an estimated 43,500 estates subject to tax. If the 2009 exemption amount of $3.5 million per decedent is applicable next year, the number of taxable estates is reduced to $650,000.
Editor’s Note: The discussion in Washington on the practical aspects of allocating the basis step-up now suggests that there may not be a mandatory retroactive estate tax law. With the pending election, it now seems very likely that Congress will not act on the estate tax before December. The Senate continues to have great difficulty developing a plan acceptable to 60 Senators and to the House of Representatives. However, Senators now recognize that a $1 million exemption and tax on 43,500 estates will impact a large number of middle-class children and other beneficiaries. Therefore, it seems quite likely that a compromise should be passed in December. However, as the AICPA basis adjustment discussion suggests, this compromise is now less likely to mandate an extension of the 2009 exemption for 2010. As a result, attorneys and CPAs will need to address the very complex and uncertain basis adjustment problems for 2010 estates.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Accounting, Estate Planning, Taxation | Tagged: accountants, AICPA, capital gains, Catherine Hughes, CPA, estate tax, estate tax basis, Internal Revenue Code Sec., IRS, step up basis, Tax Policy Center this | 4 Comments »
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