Seven Steps For 2010 Heirs - Forbes.com

Seven Steps For 2010 Heirs - Forbes.com: "Unless Congress restores the estate tax retroactively this year, vast sums will pass free of both estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer tax (on assets given to grandchildren). Under a 2001 law, these taxes are scheduled to return Jan. 1 at unfavorable rates that applied 10 years earlier. At that point, the amount that is exempt from each of these taxes will be $1 million, and the tax on the rest will be 55% (60% in a certain phase-out range). In contrast, the tax-free amount last year was $3.5 million, and there was tax of 45% on anything else not going to a citizen spouse or to charity. (For advice on how to deal with the return of the estate tax, click here.)"