The IRS raised the estate and gift tax exemption to $15.48 million per person for 2027. That's up from $15 million in 2026. The increase is $480,000.
Read that again. The government handed out a $480,000 raise to people whose main career goal is dying with money.
The annual gift exclusion also climbs to $20,000. It was $19,000. Grandma can now hand you one extra thousand dollars tax-free. You'll lose it on a weekly options contract by Tuesday.
The Tax Policy Center estimates about 6,890 federal estate tax returns for 2026. Roughly 3,900 will owe anything. That's the whole audience for this story. Fewer than four thousand families. Your cousin who owns a boat is not one of them.
Yet the headline says "here's what investors need to know." You need to know nothing. You have a brokerage account with $3,100 in it and a stock you bought because the ticker looked like a dog's name.
Frank Bisignano, the IRS chief executive, praised the Working Families Tax Cuts in the announcement. Nothing says working families like a $15 million exemption. Your family works. Their family has a trust attorney named Preston.
The adjustment is inflation indexing. The IRS did not feel generous. A calculator did the feeling for it.
You'll plan your estate anyway. You'll open a spreadsheet. You'll type "assets" and under it, "vibes." Then you'll close the file and check the pre-market.
Your heirs will inherit $15.48 million of exemption room and your Robinhood password.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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