Latest Inner Income Service Statistics of Earnings knowledge mirror among the modifications that affected property planning final yr, together with the COVID-19 pandemic and modifications to the tax regulation. The IRS noticed a rise within the variety of property tax return filings, in addition to the quantity of taxes paid, in 2021 in comparison with 2020. In accordance with Tax Notes, the common dimension of estates fell 13% to $30.8 million.

Returns Filed

The overall variety of returns filed in 2021 was 6,158 (up from 3,441 in 2020), with 3,574 of these being nontaxable returns. Although it could possibly’t be mentioned with certainty, as a result of an automated six-month extension to the nine-month timeframe to file is offered after a decedent’s dying (together with different additional accessible extensions), the rise within the variety of filings could also be a results of the COVID-19 pandemic. Usually, the property tax is filed within the yr following the yr of dying (although taxes owed have to be paid inside the nine-month window following the dying) with 2020 being the yr that noticed the most important variety of COVID-19 deaths because the starting of the pandemic. 

The overall worth of property tax filings in 2021 was $189.65 billion, in contrast with $122.25 billion the earlier yr. Primarily based on Tax Notes’ evaluation of the information, that rise might have been partly pushed by inventory market efficiency—publicly traded inventory accounted for $49.2 billion of the worth of estates filed for in 2021, a sizeable improve from $31.9 billion in 2020.

Taxes Paid

The variety of taxes paid by these estates additionally elevated, with the common tax price of 9.7% on 2021 filings was 9.7%, a barely greater than 2% improve from 2020. The estates within the $50 million or extra vary had been the first drivers of the upper efficient tax price, with estates falling into the class paying 50% greater than what estates in that class paid in 2020, per Tax Notes.

Different Elements

Additionally mirrored by the information is the truth that many foundations gave much more generously than standard in 2020, in direct response to the pandemic. The information highlights that charitable bequests dropped to only below $25 billion in 2021, in contrast with $29 billion in 2020, regardless of a rise in filings and the worth of estates.

The impact of the doubling of the property and reward tax exemption below the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can also be seen within the knowledge. The overall variety of property filings fell by greater than half in 2019 from the earlier yr, when there have been 6,409 filings. Moreover, the variety of filings for estates valued at lower than $10 million dropped from 1,975 in 2019 to a mere 532 filings in 2021.