No estate taxes at all in 2010? Don't bet on it.

Cheryl Costa
Boston Globe
April 15, 2009 09:05 AM

As many of you know, the estate tax is supposed to be eliminated beginning January 1, 2010. This elimination is in effect for only one year, however, and in 2011, the estate tax is scheduled to return -- and return in a big way. In 2011, estates greater than $1M could be subject to taxation. (As a point of reference, in 2009, estates greater than $3.5M are potentially subject to taxation.)

Nobody really expects that the one year suspension of estate taxes will actually happen. Most people expect that at some point this year Congress will set a relatively high estate tax limit and then increase that limit in subsequent years to account for inflation. The big question is --what might that limit be? Numbers between $3.5M and $5M have been in the press for months.

(More here.)