Estate Tax In The United States
The estate tax in the United States is a tax imposed on the transfer of the "taxable estate" of a deceased person, whether such property is transferred via a will, according to the state laws of intestacy or otherwise made as an incident of the death of the owner, such as a transfer of property from an intestate estate or trust, or the payment of certain life insurance benefits or financial account sums to beneficiaries. The estate tax is one part of the Unified Gift and Estate Tax system in the United States. The other part of the system, the gift tax, imposes a tax on transfers of property during a person's life; the gift tax prevents avoidance of the estate tax should a person want to give away his/her estate.
In addition to the federal government, many states also impose an estate tax, with the state version called either an estate tax or an inheritance tax. Since the 1990s, opponents of the tax have used the pejorative term "death tax". The equivalent tax in the United Kingdom has always been referred to as "inheritance tax".
If an asset is left to a spouse or a (Federally recognized) charitable organization, the tax usually does not apply. For deaths occurring up to 2012, up to $5,000,000 can be passed from an individual upon his or her death without incurring federal estate tax.
Read more about Estate Tax In The United States: Federal Estate Tax, Inheritance Tax At The State Level, Tax Mitigation, IRS Audits, Related Taxes
Famous quotes containing the words united states, estate, tax, united and/or states:
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)
“Our vices always lie in the direction of our virtues, and in their best estate are but plausible imitations of the latter.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“It is said that the British Empire is very large and respectable, and that the United States are a first-rate power. We do not believe that a tide rises and falls behind every man which can float the British Empire like a chip, if he should ever harbor it in his mind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)