IRS Extends Time for Certain Estates To Request Late Portability Election Relief
The IRS recently issued Revenue Procedure 2022-32, allowing certain estates to elect the portability of a deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE) amount as much as five years after the decedent's date of death.
The procedure supersedes a 2017 revenue procedure, Rev. Proc. 2017-34, updating the simplified method in that procedure by extending the period within which an estate may make the portability election to on or before the fifth anniversary of the decedent's date of death. The portability election allows a decedent’s unused exclusion amount to become available for application to the surviving spouse’s transfers during life or at death.
The revenue procedure pertains to estates not normally required to file an estate tax return due to the value of the gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts being under the filing threshold in Section 6018(a) of the Code.
Taxpayers are able to use the simplified method instead of going through the letter ruling process, and no user fee is needed.