You may already know that the federal estate tax exemption for 2024 has been $13.61 million. We now have the tax exemption amounts for 2025.

The federal estate tax exemption is the amount your estate must exceed before you will owe any estate tax. Some people have a smaller exemption amount than the published 2025 figure. They might have used up some of their exemption amount in 2024 or earlier years, for instance. But the general estate tax exemption amounts for 2025 will be $13.99 million for a single person, and twice that (or $27.93 million) for a married couple.

The gift tax exemption amount is also scheduled to increase for 2025. The new number will be $19,000. That figure is per donor/per donee. In other words, you and your spouse can give a total to $38,000 to any number of individuals without owing any gift tax, having to file a gift tax return or in any way affecting your (or the recipient’s) income taxes.