• videocam On-Demand Webinar
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Estate Planning
  • schedule 90 minutes

Portability of Gift and Estate Tax Exemption: Planning Considerations, Forms 706 and 709, Missed Election Relief

About the Course

Introduction

This CLE/CPE webinar will provide trusts and estates counsel and tax advisers guidance on key planning considerations for the portability of gift and estate tax exemptions. The panel will discuss making portability elections, available relief for missed elections, and the computation and reporting of a deceased spouse's unused exclusion change to the deceased spouse's unused exemption. The panel will also provide an overview of the issues that may arise regarding portability of gift and estate tax exemptions and completing Forms 706 and 709.

Description

Estate planning counsel and tax advisers have a powerful tool to achieve significant estate and gift tax savings for clients. Portability's current status requires counsel to consider methods to protect increases in value between spouses' deaths, attain better income tax results, and leverage strategies for diversifying approaches for using applicable exclusion amounts.

The portability regulations require the executor of a decedent's estate to calculate the deceased spouse's unused exclusion and report the amount on the estate tax return to elect portability for the surviving spouse. Determining this amount involves a multi-step process for calculating the unused exemption amount under the regulations.

By walking you through real-world examples for portability to maximize tax benefits for estate planning, our panel will examine the tax savings and other benefits of creating portability-based plans. Missing the election to port an exemption can prove costly. Revenue Procedure 2022-32 offers relief for certain untimely elections.

Listen as our panel discusses portability elections, available relief for missed elections, and the computation and reporting of a deceased spouse's unused exclusion change to the deceased spouse's unused exemption.

Presented By

John M. Bunge
Member
Riggs Davie PLC

Mr. Bunge focuses his practice on sophisticated tax and estate planning for wealthy individuals and families, including executives, business owners, entertainers, investors, multi-generational families, and their advisors. He helps clients develop comprehensive wealth transfer strategies, minimize income and estate taxes, and structure their affairs around liquidity events, business sales, and generational transitions. Mr. Bunge works extensively with families on the formation, structuring, and governance of family offices, private trust companies, and family investment entities. He has been a primary drafter of numerous amendments to Tennessee’s trust laws through the Tennessee Bankers Association Trust Law Committee, has authored or contributed to numerous articles and books, and speaks extensively on tax and estate planning topics.

Connor D. McDonald
Attorney
Riggs Davie PLC

Mr. McDonald is a Nashville-based estate and tax attorney who advises clients on estate planning and wealth preservation at every stage of life. He has extensive experience in this field, from young families starting out to individuals and families with nine-figure net worths. Before joining Riggs Davie PLC, Mr. McDonald was an associate at Howard, Mobley, Hayes & Gontarek, PLLC, and served as Assistant General Counsel for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.

Credit Information
  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Thursday, August 13, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT

I. Gift and estate tax overview: electing portability

A. Estate, gift, and income tax savings

B. Mechanics of election

II. Deceased spousal unused exclusion

III. Filing Form 706 solely to elect portability

IV. Calculating and reporting on Form 706 and 709

V. Missed elections

VI. Impact of potential law changes on portability

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • Potential estate, gift, and income tax savings when incorporating portability in an estate plan
  • Mechanics involving elections for special consideration by counsel
  • How to calculate deceased spouse's unused exclusion amounts per IRS guidelines
  • Relief for missed portability elections
  • Determining whether to recommend portability election
  • How the anti-clawback regulations affect the estate exemption
  • Reporting on Estate Tax Return Form 706 for a surviving spouse
  • Reporting on Gift Tax Return Form 709 for a surviving spouse