Annual Gift Tax Exclusion rising to $12,000 in 2006

Category: Estate Planning, Estate and Inheritance Tax

The amount that you can give to a person without using any of your lifetime annual exclusion will increase from $11,000 to $12,000 in 2006. Between a couple, they will be able to give away $24,000 to any person with no gift tax consequences. This increase will obviously increase the effectively of any estate tax minimization strategies such as an insurance trust; children's or grandchildren's trusts; family limited partnership or family LLC transfers; etc.