The value of your assets minus your liabilities is needed to determine whether "estate taxes" may be an important consideration in the preparation of your will (or living trust). Federal estate taxes are not usually a factor in estates of less than the federal applicable exclusion amount of $2,000,000. Although your combined assets may be less than $2,000,000 now, future growth in the value of your assets may cause the value of your estate to exceed the federal applicable exclusion amount. The Estate Size Worksheet and Tax Calculator is divided into four sections. First, you provide some personal information. Next, you are asked for information regarding the values of your current assets and liabilities. In the third section, you can enter some assumptions about how your investments and other assets may increase in the future because of inflation, investment earnings, and additional savings. In the last section, you can see how much federal estate tax would be owed on the current value of your assets and also on the future value of your assets. For an explanation of how the personal information is used, see the Personal Information topic. |