Political junkies probably had a late night last night watching election results. I’m actually tired from the night before; waiting for the IRS to announce updates to important 2015 tax numbers!
The IRS recently issued Rev. Proc 2014-61 which reveals many important tax figures, such as the standard deduction figure for income taxes, the child tax credit, the earned income credit, along with a few important estate and gift tax figures. The number I was interested in is the lifetime exclusion amount, also known as the “exemption” amount which is set by statute at $5 million, but is indexed for inflation. The IRS determines the inflation rate for this important figure. This figure for 2015 will be $5,430,000. That’s an increase of $90,000 over 2014’s figure of $5,340,000. 2013’s amount was $5,250,000, if you’re keeping score. The estate and gift tax rate of 40% remains unchanged.
Sometimes we also get a change in what is known as the “annual exclusion.” The annual exclusion is the amount that a person can gift outright to another person during one calendar year without having to file a gift tax return. This annual exclusion amount remains unchanged at $14,000 per person.
-Attorney Jason C. Walker