Estate Income Tax · Insights

Estate Income Tax insights

Plain-English tax guidance on estate income tax from our CPAs and Enrolled Agents.

Mar 9, 2026·6 min read

Step-Up in Basis: How Inherited Assets Get a Fresh Cost Basis at Death

When you inherit an asset, its cost basis usually resets to fair market value at the date of death — erasing decades of unrealized gains. Here's how the step-up works, what qualifies, and why it's one of the most valuable rules in the code.

SMAART Tax Team

Form 1041 Explained: Income Tax for Estates and Trusts

Estate Income Tax

Feb 24, 2026·6 min read

Form 1041 Explained: Income Tax for Estates and Trusts

An estate or trust that earns income has to file its own tax return — Form 1041 — and its brackets are brutally compressed. Here's how trust taxation, distributable net income, and beneficiary K-1s actually work.

SMAART Tax Team

The 2026 Estate & Gift Tax Exemption: What the Permanent $15M Threshold Means

Estate Income Tax

Feb 10, 2026·7 min read

The 2026 Estate & Gift Tax Exemption: What the Permanent $15M Threshold Means

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the higher estate and gift tax exemption permanent and set it at $15 million per person for 2026. Here's how portability, annual gifting, and the 40% rate actually work — and how to plan around the threshold.

SMAART Tax Team

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