Individuals who previously exhausted their $5.49 million gift tax exemption now have another bite at the apple.Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, individuals are now able to transfer approximately $11.18 million free of estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax during their lives or upon death.
A married couple will be able to transfer approximately $22.36 million during their lives or upon death. And due to the portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount, any unused federal estate tax (but not GST tax) exemption for the first spouse to die may be used by the surviving spouse for lifetime gifting or upon death.