As we wrote here earlier this year, Governor Cuomo proposed to extend the “clawback law,” which had expired on January 1, 2019, in his fiscal year 2020 Executive Budget.  As a reminder, the clawback law pulled the value of all taxable gifts made within three years of a New York resident taxpayer’s death back into the New York resident taxpayer’s estate for New York estate tax purposes.

In November 2017, the IRS released proposed regulations clarifying the estate tax treatment of large lifetime gifts made now, while the federal estate and gift tax exemption is temporarily increased thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.  These proposed regulations, if they go into effect as drafted, provide an opportunity for wealthy taxpayers to lock in the temporarily increased exemption by making large lifetime gifts.

In light of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass) New Year’s Eve announcement that she is running for President, thus kicking off not only the new year, but also apparently the formal beginning of the Presidential campaign season, we thought it timely to consider the most recent estate tax proposal of Sen. Warren, and how it compares to the current state of the estate tax.