Final regulations establish a user fee for estate tax closing letters

The IRS issued final regulations instituting a user fee of $67 for the Service to issue an estate tax closing letter. 

Other than the adoption of the final regulations, there were no significant changes to the proposed regulations issued in late December 2020.

An estate tax closing letter informs its authorized recipient of the IRS’s acceptance of the estate tax return (generally, Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return) and provides some return information, such as the amounts of the net estate tax, any state death tax credit or deduction, and any generation-skipping transfer tax for which the estate is liable. 

The new user fee will apply to “requests for estate tax closing letters received by the IRS on or after the date 30 days after publication of the final regulations in the Federal Register. 

(Publication occurred on September 28, 2021). 

See Paul Bonner, Final regulations establish a user fee for estate tax closing letters, Journal of Accountancy, September 27, 2021. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2021/10/final-regulations-establish-a-user-fee-for-estate-tax-closing-letters.html