Wednesday, December 22, 2010 NEET Tips
NEET Tips answers questions posed online to the NEET website.
What is the Marital Deduction?
The marital deduction allows for unlimited lifetime gifts between spouses, and for unlimited transfer of assets from a decedent to their surviving spouse. The deduction, equal to the value of the assets transferred, applies as a deduction against gifts in the calendar year when occurring between living spouses, or as a deduction against the deceased person’s gross estate for estate tax purposes.
For gifts between spouses, if the recipient spouse of a gift is not a U.S. citizen at the time of the gift, the deduction is limited to $100,000. For estate taxes, if the surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, the deduction is also limited, but the limitation can be circumvented through use of a qualified domestic trust set up before the death of the first spouse.
The marital deduction is an important estate planning option that is frequently used to rebalance estates between spouses, and to delay estate taxes until the death of the second spouse so that the surviving spouse’s standard of living is not substantially reduced. |