{"id":16120,"date":"2022-08-02T19:51:06","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfwpartnersllc.com\/?p=16120"},"modified":"2022-08-02T19:51:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:51:06","slug":"estates-now-have-an-additional-three-years-to-file-for-a-portability-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/estates-now-have-an-additional-three-years-to-file-for-a-portability-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Estates now have an additional three years to file for a portability election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><html><head><\/head><body><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/snd-store\/a\/75480629\/07_14_22_1317236818_epb_560x292.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Portability allows a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse\u2019s unused federal gift and estate tax exemption amount toward his or her own transfers during life or at death. To secure these benefits, however, the deceased spouse\u2019s executor must have made a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return (Form 706). The return is due nine months after death, with a six-month extension option.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, estates that aren\u2019t otherwise required to file a return (typically because they don\u2019t meet the filing threshold) often miss this deadline. The IRS recently revised its rules for obtaining an extension to elect portability beyond the original nine-months after death (plus six-month extension) timeframe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s new?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2017, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2017-34, making it easier (and cheaper) for estates to obtain an extension of time to file a portability election. The procedure grants an automatic extension, provided:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The deceased was a U.S. citizen or resident,<\/li>\n<li>The executor wasn\u2019t otherwise required to file an estate tax return and didn\u2019t file one by the deadline, and<\/li>\n<li>The executor files a complete and properly prepared estate tax return within <em>two<\/em> years of the date of death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since the 2017 ruling, the IRS has had to issue numerous private letter rulings granting an extension of time to elect portability in situations where the deceased\u2019s estate wasn\u2019t required to file an estate tax return and the time for obtaining relief under the simplified method (two years of the date of death) had expired. According to the IRS, these requests placed a significant burden on the agency\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS has now issued Revenue Procedure 2022-32. Under the new procedure, an extension request must be made on or before the <em>fifth<\/em> anniversary of the deceased\u2019s death (an increase of three years). This method, which doesn\u2019t require a user fee, should be used in lieu of the private letter ruling process. (The fee for requesting a private letter ruling from the IRS can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t miss the revised deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your spouse predeceases you and you\u2019d benefit from portability, be sure that his or her estate files a portability election by the fifth anniversary of the date of death. Contact us with any questions you have regarding portability.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 <em>2022<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/body><br \/>\n<\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portability allows a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse\u2019s unused federal gift and estate tax exemption amount toward his or her own transfers during life or at death. To secure these benefits, however, the deceased spouse\u2019s executor must have made a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return (Form 706). The return [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,10],"tags":[8,11,12],"class_list":["post-16120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-estates","category-news","tag-articles","tag-news","tag-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}