Question 1

How does the New York estate tax cliff work in this calculator?

Accepted Answer

The calculator compares the New York base with 105% of the encoded New York exclusion. If the base is above the exclusion but no higher than the cliff, it subtracts schedule tax on the exclusion as a credit. If the base exceeds the cliff, that credit becomes $0 and the full encoded New York schedule tax is used.

Question 2

Does federal DSUE increase the New York estate tax exclusion?

Accepted Answer

No. The code adds entered DSUE only to the federal applicable exclusion. The New York exclusion remains the amount assigned to the selected year. The results section explicitly displays New York portability as "Not allowed."

Question 3

How are earlier taxable gifts handled?

Accepted Answer

The calculator adds the entered earlier taxable gifts to both the federal base and the New York base after calculating the taxable estate. Those gifts therefore affect the federal exclusion comparison and the New York exclusion and cliff tests. The tool itself does not calculate a separate New York gift tax.

Question 4

How does the gifting-years solver work?

Accepted Answer

The solver limits the effective annual gift per donee to the calculator's annual-exclusion amount, multiplies it by the number of donees, and tests increasing gifting periods. It then uses a binary search and rounds the solution up to a whole number of years. If tax remains after the selected maximum period, it reports that more years would be required.

Question 5

Can GST tax prevent the gifting solver from reaching zero?

Accepted Answer

Yes. GST tax is based on entered direct skips minus allocated GST exemption. The annual-exclusion gifting reduction does not change those two GST inputs. A remaining GST amount can therefore keep total transfer tax above zero even after the estate-tax portions have fallen to zero.

New York Estate Tax Calculator