Estate Planning Red Flag – Your spouse’s estate missed the portability election deadline

Description

Abstract: Portability allows a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exemption amount toward his or her own transfers during life or at death. To secure these benefits, however, the deceased spouse’s executor must have made a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return. This brief article explains how the IRS has made it easier for estates to obtain an extension of time to file a portability election.