Source: IRS, Statistics of Income, August 2013
The IRS recently released a statistical report entitled “Estate Tax Returns filed for Wealthy Decedents, 2003-2012”. Some of the more interesting statistics in the data collected were:
- The number of estate tax returns declined 87 percent from about 73,100 in 2003 to about 9,400 in 2012 primarily due to the gradual increase in the filing threshold.
- The gross estate filing threshold was $5.12 million in 2012, up from $1.0 million in 2003.
- In 2012, the total net estate tax reported on all estate tax returns filed for the year was $8.5 billion.
- California had the highest number of estate tax returns filed in 2012, followed by Florida, New York, Texas, and Illinois.
- Estate tax decedents with total assets of $20 million or more held a greater share of their portfolio in stocks (about 40 percent) and lesser shares in real estate and retirement assets than decedents in other total asset categories
Does the significant decline in the number of estate tax returns (due to the threshold for such returns increasing to $5.12 million in 2012 from $1 million) mean that only the “wealthy” (i.e. those with estates in excess of $5.12 million based on the 2012 threshold), need to be concerned about an estate plan and the avoidance or minimization of estate taxes? Absolutely not.
While the avoidance and/or minimization of estate taxes is certainly one good reason to engage the services of an estate planning attorney, there are a number of other reasons to consider which will be discussed in part 2 of this blog series.
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