March 2018
The sweeping reform Congress pushed through to the federal tax law began taking effect mostly in 2018. Among the many significant changes made were changes to the estate and gift tax law. The crux of the change is that the estate and gift tax lifetime “exemption” more than doubles, from $5.49 million in 2017 to approximately $11.18 million per person in 2018. That said, the change is only temporarily through 2025, meaning the next eight years are most beneficial for taxpayers to plan before the exemption sunsets on Jan. 1, 2026.
