Artie Green (Los Altos Town Crier): "2010: Not the year to die"

On October 26, 2010, the Los Altos Town Crier published 2010: Not the year to die, by Artie Green.  Green believes that 2010 is not a good year to die because in 2010 carryover basis rules replaced the typical step-up in basis rules that apply when someone dies:

The year 2010 is not the time to die. No, I’m not talking about you – I’m talking about your rich Uncle John. . . .

“Wow!” you might be thinking. “That sounds great! If there’s no more estate tax, that leaves more money for me to inherit from his estate, doesn’t it?”

Well, kind of. . . .

there’s a little known and much bigger problem with elimination of the estate tax in 2010 that will affect a larger proportion of taxpayers, and that’s the consequent elimination of the step-up in basis for inherited property.

Comments

[Rocket J Squirrel]

The other side of this sword is that some investment property is underwater, thanks to the financial meltdown. In my case, I would have had to take a step DOWN from the decedent's basis under the old rules. So 2010 is still looking good to me...