Update: Minnesota Estate Tax Exemption

estate planning worksheet with pen

As of the date of this article, the Minnesota estate tax exemption amount is currently $2.1 million per person. For those of you who don’t know, in May 2017, a new tax bill was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Governor Mark Dayton.

Upon the passage of this new tax bill, the Minnesota estate tax exemption amount was increased from $1.8 million to $2.1 million per person (retroactive to January 1, 2017), with further increases scheduled in the coming years. Under the new tax bill, the estate tax exemption amount is scheduled to increase to $2.4 million in 2018, $2.7 million in 2019, and then $3.0 million in 2020.

As you may already know, Governor Dayton reluctantly signed the tax bill to prevent a budget stalemate that could have ultimately led to a government shut-down. In an effort to draw the House and the Senate back to the negotiating table, Governor Dayton used his line-item veto power to remove legislative funding. This line-item veto essentially cuts operational funding to both the Minnesota House and Minnesota Senate.

Without going too deep into detail, Governor Dayton and the legislature ended up in court.  The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that Governor Dayton’s line-item veto of legislative funding was constitutional, but ordered the Governor and the legislature to hire a mediator and attempt to arrive at a solution. Thus, at this time, we believe the status of the Minnesota estate tax exemption is still up in the air. 

So what does this mean for you? The Minnesota estate tax exemption amount is an ever-changing number. With all of the changes to both the state and federal estate tax, we are recommending that any estate plan that was put in place more than 10 years ago be re-evaluated as it is extremely important that tax planning is built into your estate plan. Please contact the Trusts & Estates attorneys at FMJ if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss your estate planning questions.

About FMJ’s Trusts & Estates Practice

 

FMJ’s Trust & Estates group can help clients create and implement an estate plan in a time span that fits their needs. We make estate planning simple and affordable. Clients can email us at estateplanning@fmjlaw.com to have someone from our Trusts & Estates group contact them. We offer complimentary 30-minute initial consultations and flat-fee estate planning to fit every budget.

FMJ’s Trusts & Estates Group consists of  David Ness(Shareholder), Karen Schlotthauer (Senior Counsel), and Matthew Jensen (Associate). Follow FMJ’s Trusts & Estates Blog here

Related Attorneys

David M. Ness