Based on the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period ending August 31, 2016, Thompson Reuters Checkpoint has released their projected inflation-adjusted Estate, Gift, GST tax, and other exclusion amounts for 2017, as follows:
The unified estate and gift tax exclusion amount (gift and estate tax exemptions) for gifts made and decedents dying in 2017 will be $5,490,000 (up from $5,450,000 in 2016).
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption for transfers made in 2017 will be $5,490,000 (up from $5,450,000 in 2016).
The gift tax annual exclusion amount for gifts made in 2017 will be $14,000 (the same amount as for gifts made in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013).
The annual exclusion for gifts to noncitizen spouses in 2017 will be $149,000 (up from $148,000 in 2016).
The special use valuation reduction limit for estate of decedents dying in 2017 will be $1,120,000 (up from $1,110,000 in 2016).
The portion of the estate tax that may be deferred on farm or closely-held businesses at an interest rate of 2% per year, after the applicable exclusion amount is applied, will be $1,490,000 (up from $1,480,000 for 2016).
The foreign gift reporting threshold for gifts from a nonresident alien or foreign estate to a U.S. person (other than an exempt Code Section 501(c) organization) will be $100,000; the foreign gift reporting threshold for gifts from foreign corporations and foreign partnerships to a U.S. person (other than an exempt Code Section 501(c) organization) will be $15,797 in 2017 (up from $15,671 in 2016).
The threshold in 2017 for an individual to be deemed a “covered expatriate” is an “average annual net income tax” of more than $162,000 (up from $161,000) for the five tax years ending before the date that the individual ceases to be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (i.e. green card holder).
The exclusion amount for the gross income of an individual for the mark-to-market deemed sale rules (which deem all of the property of an expatriate to be sold on the day before expatriation for its fair market value) will be $699,000 (up from $693,000 in 2016).
The foreign earned income exclusion amount in 2017 will be $102,100 (up from $101,300 in 2016).
Additional information on these and other projected tax related inflation-adjusted figures for 2017 can be found in the 2017 Inflation-Adjusted Figures Report.