Figures are current as of 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Tax law changes; this is informational and not tax or legal advice. Confirm any figure with your advisor before acting.
For 2026, the federal estate and gift tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person — roughly $30,000,000 for a married couple. Under the OBBBA, signed July 4, 2025, this level was made “permanent” and indexed to inflation, rather than scheduled to fall as it had been under prior law.
Why this is a planning opportunity, not just a headline
A high exemption means more wealth can move to the next generation — during life or at death — without triggering federal estate or gift tax. For families who expect their estate to grow, locking in transfers while the exemption is elevated can remove future appreciation from the taxable estate entirely.
The levers we look at
- Annual gifting. You can give $19,000 per recipient in 2026 ($38,000 per married couple splitting gifts) without touching your lifetime exemption.
- Larger lifetime gifts. Transfers above the annual exclusion draw down the lifetime exemption, but they also move future growth out of your estate.
- Trust strategies. Coordinated with your attorney — GRATs, SLATs, and generation-skipping planning — so the investments, the transfer, and the tax plan move together rather than in separate offices.
How this connects to the rest of your plan
An estate plan that ignores your portfolio and your income-tax picture leaves value on the table. We weigh which assets to give (and which to hold for a step-up in basis), how a gift interacts with your retirement income, and how the transfer fits your overall after-tax return — one coordinated decision rather than three disconnected ones.
If a large transfer is on your horizon, the elevated exemption is a reason to plan deliberately now.