Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

made and $2,000,000 was placed into a QDOT for W. When W dies in 2012, the
QDOT is worth $2,500,000. H’s DSUE is $1,500,000 ($5,000,000- $1,000,000
gifts at death - $2,500,000 QDOT).
B. Example 2. Same facts as example 1 except W made gifts in 2012 of $1,000,000.
In this case, since W made the gifts in the same year as her death the gifts can
consume part of H’s DSUE and the DSUE is reduced to $500,000 ($5,000,000-
$1,000,000 gifts at death - $2,500,000 QDOT-$1,000,000 in gifts in 2012).
C. Example 3. Computation of DSUE amount when QDOT created. (i) Facts.
Husband (H), a US citizen, makes his first taxable gift in 2002, valued at
$1,000,000, and reports the gift on a timely-filed gift tax return. No gift tax is due
because the applicable exclusion amount for that year ($1,000,000) equals the fair
market value of the gift. H dies in 2011 with a gross estate of $2,000,000. H’s
wife (W) is a US resident but not a citizen of the United States and, under H’s
will, a pecuniary bequest of $1,500,000 passes to a QDOT for the benefit of W.
H’s executor timely files an estate tax return and makes the QDOT election for
the property passing to the QDOT, and H’s estate is allowed a marital deduction
of $1,500,000 under section 2056(d) for the value of that property. H’s taxable
estate is $500,000. On H’s estate tax return, H’s executor computes H’s
preliminary DSUE amount to be $3,500,000 (the lesser of the $5,000,000 basic
exclusion amount in 2011, or the excess of H’s $5,000,000 applicable exclusion
amount over the sum of the $500,000 taxable estate and the $1,000,000 adjusted
taxable gifts). No taxable events within the meaning of section 2056A occur
during W’s lifetime with respect to the QDOT, and W makes no taxable gifts. In
2012, W dies and the value of the assets of the QDOT is $1,800,000. (ii)
Application. H’s DSUE amount is re-determined to be $1,700,000 (the lesser of
the $5,000,000 basic exclusion amount in 2011, or the excess of H’s $5,000,000
applicable exclusion amount over $3,300,000 ($5,000,000 -$500,000 taxable
estate - $1,800,000 of QDOT assets - the $1,000,000 adjusted taxable gifts)).
IV.
AUDITS OF DECEASED SPOUSE RETURNS.
A. The IRS may examine returns of a decedent in determining the decedent’s DSUE
amount, regardless of whether the period of limitations on assessment has expired
for that return. Code § 2010(c)(5)(B). The regulations provide that the IRS may
audit the tax return of the last deceased spouse over a period that extends through
the surviving spouse’s normal statute of limitations, but it appears that the audit is
supposed to be limited to the calculation (and adjustment of any calculation) of
the DSUE amount and not the entire deceased spouse’s return. Temp. Reg. §
20.2010-2T(d), 3T(d), 25.2505-2T(e).
V. ESTATE PLANNING AND PORTABILITY.
A. Does GSTT and Portability Mix? It is not quite clear if you can use portability
and GSTT planning together. One option is a grantor trust, discussed below. The
GSTT exemption is not portable and so it may seem as if you either must make a
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