You do not have much reason to fear the federal estate tax, because few estates end up paying it. Even if your estate could be affected by it, there are ways to minimize the tax and possibly to avoid it completely.
The estate tax is one of those things that gets a lot more attention than it probably should. The political parties are willing to go to war over any potential changes to the federal estate tax and there is a lot written about it when they do.
However, the American public in general does not need to worry about it too much.
The estate tax only realistically affects about 1% of American families.
The overwhelming majority of estates do not have enough assets to even begin to worry about having to pay it.
Even for those who have enough assets, there are things you can do to avoid paying any estate tax as the Marco Eagle discusses in “Tax Secrets: Slay the estate tax monster.”
If you go to an experienced estate planning attorney, you will most likely be presented with several different options to minimize any estate tax burden on your estate.
The estate tax can often be avoided completely.
It is all a matter of how you structure your estate plan and what other things you want to accomplish with your plans.
Some states also have estate taxes, so merely avoiding the federal estate tax will not necessarily help you avoid all estate taxes.
Nevertheless, estate planning attorneys can also help you with states’ taxes, should that be necessary.
Reference: Marco News (August 20, 2017) “Tax Secrets: Slay the estate tax monster.”
