My parents just died and my question is, is there any taxes on what is in the estate?

Question

that I will have to pay.

They have $100,000 in stock

They have $100,000 in a savings account

They have $100,000 in a money market IRA

They have a condo that we will be selling at a loss. It is free and clear

Answer 1

No federal estate tax on estates under $2 million, so doesn't sound like it.

Answer 2

you pay on it all depending on the state they get verious percentages CA for example is 50%

Answer 3

My condolences on your loss.

Unless the value of the condo is substantial -- something north of $1,700,000 -- there won't be any Estate Tax due.  The value of the estate is also reduced by any debts that the estate owes.  You can also deduct the final medical expenses and burial costs to reduce the value of the estate if needed.  As long as the net value of the estate is less than $4,000,000 ($2,000,000 each) there won't be any Federal estate tax due at all.  The only thing that can muck that up is if your parents gave substantial gifts during their lifetimes.  Have a look around their personal papers and see if any Gift Tax returns were ever filed.  If they made any gifts that exceeded the annual exclusion amount (currently $12k but was $10k in 2004 and earlier) then they may have dug into their Unified Lifetime Exclusion to avoid gift taxes during their lifetimes.  The Unified Exclusion reduces the estate tax exclusion dollar-for-dollar.  They each get a $1,000,000 Unified Exclusion, so if they've been very generous this could affect the Estate Tax position.

Some States still have inheritance taxes so you may have to deal with that.  Any local tax pro can answer those questions though.

One word of caution is in order though.  The IRA is fully taxable as ordinary income.  Whoever receives that account will have to pay income taxes on it when they withdraw the funds.  That's because the money was tax-free going in  and must be taxed coming out.  I do believe that it's possible for the estate to liquidate the IRA and pay the income tax as part of their final tax return but I'd check on that to be sure.

Answer 4

you better get a good tax attorney or the IRS will s***w you

Answer 5

Estate tax is zero based on the information you provide.

Answer 6

The federal government assesses "death taxes" only when an estate's value exceeds a pre-determined value.

Here's the IRS overview of estate taxes:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/arti...

And here's the exact paragraph that you're interested in:

"Most relatively simple estates (cash, publicly traded securities, small amounts of other easily valued assets, and no special deductions or elections, or jointly held property) with a total value under $1,000,000 do not require the filing of an estate tax return. The amount was $1,500,000 in 2004 and 2005. For 2006 through 2008, the amount is raised to $2,000,000."

And here's another page of IRS information:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p950/ar0...

See that paragraph, where it says "or jointly held property"?  I'm guessing that the condo was jointly owned and so it may gum up the works a bit.

You definitely need a CPA or a tax attorney who has CONSIDERABLE experience in dealing with estates and estate taxes.  Their fee is minor when compared to the headaches you'll get if you or a sibling make an error and have to deal with the IRS.  

I'm sorry for your loss.  Dealing with governmental intrusions at a time like this is cruel beyond measure.

Answer 7

Yes to all. Federal and probably state. Get a tax attorney........

Answer 8

From your information, the estate of your parents will not owe any tax.  Get a good attorney to help you through the process of selling the condo and distributing the assets to the heirs.  

Discuss the tax implications of distributing the assets with your advisor.  In particular, the IRA may be taxable to the beneficiaries.

  

Answer 9

1. the estate exemption is 2 million, so there should not be any estate tax.

2. there is no tax on inheritances. You do not pay any tax on stocks, saving account money or condo.

3. there is no inheritance tax on IRA, but withdrawal from IRA will be treated as income that you must report on tax return.

4. Your cost basis of the combo is the FMV on the date of death of your parent.

For more information read: http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/02/tax-...