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Join us for an employee benefits seminar on 9/17 at Bridgeport Brewing

Our Labor & Employment Group is hosting a seminar entitled "20/20 Benefits Planning for 2010" on 9/17 at Bridgeport in the Pearl.  For more info on the event, go here. 

Oregon Department of Revenue Reverses Position on Transfers Within 3 Years of Death

Following is a quote from the website of the Oregon Department of Revenue.

In the 2006 Oregon Inheritance Tax Return instructions (Rev. 8-06) for gross estate (page 1, left column), we stated the gross estate includes “...all transfers of property made by the decedent within the three-year period ending on the date of death.”
 
We based our position on Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 118.160(2) and Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 150-118.005(2)(f). In summary, OAR 150-118.005(2)(f) provides that the gross taxable estate includes... gifts made within the three-year period ending on the date of death.
 
We revisited our position on the three-year gifts issue and determined that the rule does not reflect the provisions of ORS 118.007, which connects the Oregon determination of the gross estate to the Internal Revenue Code as it existed on December 31, 2000. Instead, the rule reflects a connection to prior federal law, which did require inclusion of gifts within three years of death in an estate for federal tax purposes. We are removing this requirement from our instructions, eliminating inclusion of the three-year gifts in the gross estate. We will revise OAR 150-118.005 and update you on our progress.
 

Oregon Inheritance Tax: 2009 Amnesty Progam

The Governor signed into a law a bill that directs the Oregon Department of Revenue to conduct a tax amnesty program. Amnesty will be available for any inheritance tax return which had an original due date prior to January 1, 2008.

Oregon disconnected from the current federal law and calculates its inheritance tax under the prior federal law which exempts $1,000,000 from inheritance tax. Oregon does recognize the marital deduction and allows the transfer of an estate to the surviving spouse (or registered domesic partner) without tax liability.

Oregon inheritance tax is 100% of the state death tax credit allowed by 2000 federal law. Oregon does not allow the calculation of taxable estate after the state death tax deduction.