Chapter 47 - § 47.1 • IN GENERAL

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 47.1 • IN GENERAL

§ 47.1.1—Origin and Purpose

The concept of a marital deduction has existed in federal estate tax law since 1948. The marital deduction was enacted to place spouses in common law states in the same position for estate tax purposes as spouses in community property law states, where a one-half community interest in an asset was includable in a decedent's gross estate. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) introduced the unlimited marital deduction under which all transfers between spouses (other than certain transfers involving a non-United States citizen or resident spouse) would be free of estate tax.

This chapter deals primarily with the federal estate tax marital deduction under Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C. or Code) § 2056. The gift tax consequences of transfers to non-United States citizen spouses are discussed at § 51.4. With the increase of the applicable exclusion amount to $5 million ($11.2 million for years 2018 through 2025; see § 47.10.1), adjusted annually for inflation, the rules regarding the marital deduction...