Will My Heirs Need to Be Ready to Pay Estate Taxes?

Estate taxes all depend on how on much a person is planning to give to heirs.

Motley Fool’s recent article asks “If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax?” The article tells us that retirement accounts like 401(k)s, 403(b)s, traditional and Roth IRAs and others are a part of your taxable estate.

However, unless the total assets of your estate plus any taxable gifts you've already given are more than the lifetime exclusion amount, your estate won’t owe estate taxes.

For 2019, this is $11,400,000, and in 2020, the exclusion will be raised to $11,580,000. If you total all of your assets’ value, only the amount in excess of the exclusion will be taxable. Therefore, if you have a $12,000,000 estate and die in 2020, only $420,000 of your assets would be subject to estate taxes.

Let’s look at another example: if your assets, including your retirement savings, total up to $5 million, your heirs won't be required to pay any estate tax whatsoever.

However, while they may not have to pay estate taxes, remember that withdrawals from most retirement accounts (except Roth IRA accounts) will be deemed to be taxable income. Thus, estate tax or no estate tax, if your heirs are in a pretty high tax bracket, inheriting your retirement savings may increase their tax liability.

Don’t neglect to check with an estate planning attorney about your state’s estate and inheritance taxes. There are a handful of states that have their own estate taxes, and their thresholds may be lower than the IRS’s.

There are now six states with an inheritance tax: Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Each state sets its own inheritance tax exemption, and inheritance tax rates. However, these rates are subject to change at any time with changes to the laws in those states.

Reference: Motley Fool (November 8, 2019) “If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax?”