Myth: Without careful planning before you die, your heirs will have to fork over a big part of their inheritance to cover the “death tax.”
Reality: There are plenty of reasons to put time into an estate plan, but for the vast majority of Americans, estate taxes should not be a worry.
Internal Revenue Service statistics show just 14,700 estates owed taxes in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available. And the tax agreement reached by Congress and the president at the end of 2010 made sure that number will be even lower in coming years, because only estates valued at $5 million or more will be subject to the levy. In 2009, that was 4,296 estates.
Tax myth: The ‘death tax’ will get you in the end |