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2024 Gift and Estate Tax Exemption

Written by Clark Allison | Nov 22, 2023 5:25:59 PM

 

The IRS has announced the 2024 Estate and Gift Tax Exemptions

The 2024 Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer tax exemption amount is $13,610,000 ($27,220,000 for a married couple). This is an increase from the 2023 exemption of $12,920,000.

The 2024 Gift Tax Annual Exclusion is $18,000 ($36,000 for a couple). This is an increase from the 2023 exclusion of $17,000.

How We Got Here

In 2010, President Obama raised the gift and estate tax exemption to $5,000,000, indexed for inflation.

In 2017, President Trump doubled the gift and estate tax exemption to $10,000,000, also indexed for inflation, but Trump's exemption is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025, unless Congress and the President make it permanent.

If Trump's exemption sunsets at the end of 2025, the gift and estate tax exemption will default to Obama's exemption, which is estimated to be around $7,000,000 ($5,000,000 indexed for inflation since 2011).

Historical Gift and Estate Exemptions

The current estate and gift tax situation is very positive compared to years past.

Below is a table showing the historical estate tax exemption, estate tax rate and annual exclusion since 1997.

Notice that in 1997 the estate tax exemption was only $600,000 and the estate tax rate was 55%, which meant that if you had an estate worth more than $1,000,000 your estate tax would be $1,000,000 - $600,000 = $400,000 (55%) = $220,000. Yikes!

Year Gift and Estate Tax Exemption Estate Tax Rate Annual Gift Exclusion
1997 - 2001 $600,000 - $675,000 55% $10,000
2002 - 2005 $1,000,000 - $1,500,000 50% - 47% $11,000
2006 - 2008 $2,000,000 46% - 45% $12,000
2009 $3,500,000 45% $13,000
2010 no estate tax ðŸ˜Ž no estate tax ðŸ˜Ž $13,000
2011 - 2017 $5,000,000 - $5,490,000 35% - 40% $13,000 - $14,000
2018 $11,180,000 40% $15,000
2019 $11,400,000 40% $15,000
2020 $11,580,000 40% $15,000
2021 $11,700,000 40% $15,000
2022 $12,060,000 40% $16,000
2023 $12,920,000 40% $17,000
2024 $13,610,000 40% $18,000