We continually communicate to clients and prospective clients that as a business owner “you cannot do exit planning without doing estate planning, and you cannot do estate planning without doing exit planning.” Meaning that, as you plan your estate preservation and transfer in life and death, your business certainly needs to be under consideration, and if you are in the midst of creating your business exit strategy, you will quickly find that you will need to create or review your estate plan.
One of the many reasons to regularly review your estate plan is to be clear on death taxes (estate, gift, inheritance), and how your estate could be impacted. The current good news is that most small business owners don’t need to be concerned about federal estate taxes. For 2020, your estate would need to be worth $11.5 million or more ($23 million or more for a married couple) to be affected by federal estate taxes. For this reason among others, not a few owners choose to neglect estate planning, while there are other important factors to consider (i.e., asset protection; medical directives; lifetime transfers, etc.).
One such additional factor is the potential estate tax bill assessed by the state you reside in. For example, in Maryland, the estate tax exemption is less than half ($5 million for 2020) than the federal exemption, and the tax rate assessed can be up to 16%. Massachusetts has the lowest threshold of any state in 2020 of $1 million. The point is, you really need to understand, not just how you could be impacted on a federal level but also your state death tax structure. If you’re unclear, contact your estate planning attorney for a plan review.
Following is a link to a related Kiplinger article dated November 2019 (note: some states listed may have made changes in 2020) on the “18 States With Scary Death Taxes”.
Again, if you are at all unclear on your situation and how you could be impacted, contact your estate planning/tax advisor.