The federal estate tax exemption is now $11.4 million per person ($22.8 million/couple), and the New York State estate tax exemption is now $5,740,000 per person. Generally, the exemption amount is the value of assets that you can give to your heirs before any estate or gift tax is due. Note that while New York does not have a gift tax, under current law, it does bring taxable gifts you make within three years of death into your NY taxable estate.

Originally published in Lloyd Harbor Life - October 2019.