The federal estate tax has changed almost every year since 2001 as the effective exclusion climbed from $675,000 that year to $3.5 million in 2009 and the maximum statutory rate fell from 55 percent to 45 percent. In 2010, the tax disappeared entirely, only to return in 2011 and 2012 with a $5 million exemption indexed for inflation and a 35 percent rate. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) made the $5 million indexed exemption permanent but raised the tax rate to 40 percent. Under pre-ATRA law, the exemption would have reverted to an unindexed $1 million in 2013 and the top statutory rate would have risen to 55 percent.
Tables show historical parameters and statistics, projected revenues and returns, and distributions of tax under current law and selected proposals to change the estate tax.
| Historical Statistics |
| Number of Returns and Percent Taxable | Returns as a Percentage of Deaths |
| | |
| Exemption and Top Tax Rate | Tax Rate Schedule | Estate Taxes by State |
| | | |
| Summary Table |
| Returns and Liability Projections |
| |
| Distribution Tables by Gross Estate Level |
| Pre-ATRA Law |
| | | | |
| Current Law |
| | |
| Various Proposals |
| 2011 Law Extended
$5M Exemption (Indexed) and 35% Rate | 2009 Law Extended
$3.5M Exemption (Indexed) and 45% Rate | 2009 Law Extended
$3.5M Exemption (Unindexed) and 45% Rate |
| | | |
View 2012's Estate Tax Tables 
View 2011's Estate Tax Tables
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