January 19, 2010 - ESTATE TAXES AND WHEN I SHOULD DIE
As of right now 2010 is the one year we don't have to pay any estate taxes, unless congress changes this in the next few weeks.
But, we don't have a crystal ball, we don't really want to die in 2010, therefore, we need to look at our estate. We need to figure out how we can protect our loved ones, how can we make sure that they do inherit what we worked so hard for all these years to leave to them, and not have to give 55% of the estate to the feds.
The one way of protecting our estate would be to buy enough life insurance on ourselves in order to have enough money to cover the estate taxes.
Following is a list of exemptions by year.
YEAR EXEMPTION AM TOP TAX RATE
2001 $675,000 55%
2002 $1 million 50%
2003 $1 million 49%
2004 $1.5 million 48%
2005 $1.5 million 47%
2006 $2 million 46%
2007 $2 million 45%
2008 $2 million 45%
2009 $3.5 million 45%
2010 REPEALED 0%
2011 $1 million 55%