The Florida Estate Tax: Updated

The 2010 Tax Act made changes to the Federal estate tax, affecting the Florida estate tax as well. It extended the phase-out of the state death tax credit through December 31, 2012 and imposed the federal estate tax on estates of decedents who died after December 31, 2009. It also provided an election for estates of decedents who died in 2010 to either pay the federal estate tax or opt out and provide for a carryover basis. If a person dies and leaves behind property, their personal representative (like an executor or administrator) may need to file a Florida estate tax return. The filing requirement depends on when the person died. For people who died before January 1, 2005, the personal representative must file a form with the Florida Department of Revenue if they were also required to file a federal estate tax return. If no federal return is required, they still need to file a different form with the probate court. For people who died after January 1, 2005, but before January 1, 2013, no Florida estate tax is due because of changes to federal tax laws. Any taxes due are based on federal tax laws. For people who die on or after January 1, 2013, the Florida estate tax rate is also zero because of changes to federal tax laws. If someone dies and leaves behind property, the person in charge of handling their estate may need to file certain forms with the government. If the person who died is not required to file certain tax forms, the personal representative can file form DR-312 to clear any tax liens on the property. If the person who died is required to file certain tax forms, the personal representative doesn’t need to file form F-706. They may also need to file form DR-313 with the probate court to clear tax liens on any real estate the person who died owned. There are also rules about when the estate tax laws apply, so the personal representative needs to be aware of those rules based on when the person died. If someone died before 2005, their representative might have to pay extra federal estate tax if they sold property that had a special tax valuation. They also might have to pay back deferred estate tax if the deceased was married to a non-U.S. citizen. The Florida and federal estate tax is due within nine months of the person’s death. The representative might have opted to pay the federal and Florida estate tax over a longer period of time. If someone dies and had to pay taxes, the person in charge of their money (called the personal representative) can ask for a refund if they paid too much. They have to do this within four years of paying the taxes, or within 60 days of finding out how much they owe for federal taxes. They can also file a claim to get their money back if there’s a disagreement between different states about how much tax is owed. If someone owed money to the person who died, they have two years to ask for it. The person in charge of the dead person’s money has to tell the government about the debts and can do this by sending their list of debts to the government. In summary, a lawyer representing someone handling a deceased person’s estate needs to know about filing obligations and tax payments. They should also be aware of changes in tax laws and advise their client accordingly. The lawyer in this article is an expert in tax law and works for the Florida Department of Revenue.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/the-florida-estate-tax-updated/