Estate Tax Attorney
Gifts, trusts and federal tax returns, planned with your CPA so more of what you built reaches the people you choose.
Who should plan for estate tax
Most families will never owe federal estate tax. The exemption is $15 million per person in 2026. Still, tax planning helps more families than that figure suggests. Your assets may be near the exemption or growing toward it, or you may own a business or rental property you want to keep in the family. Some parents and grandparents want to help family now instead of later. And when a spouse dies, a timely estate tax return can preserve millions in unused exemption for the survivor.
James handles both sides of the work. While you are living, we plan gifts and trusts that make full use of the exemption. After a death, we prepare the federal estate tax return and guide the executor through the tax decisions. Your CPA stays involved throughout, so the numbers and the strategy match.
Does Virginia have an estate tax?
No.
For deaths today, Virginia has no estate tax and no inheritance tax. The state’s estate tax was effectively repealed for deaths on or after July 1, 2007. Your heirs will not owe Virginia tax on what they receive.
Federal estate and gift tax
Still applies to Virginia residents, the same as everyone else.
Virginia probate tax
Still applies: a much smaller charge that the executor pays at the courthouse.
Maryland and D.C.
Each has its own estate tax, with exemptions of about $5 million. A Virginia resident who owns real estate in either place can owe tax there even when no federal tax is due.
How the federal estate and gift tax works
The federal estate tax and gift tax share one lifetime exemption. Every taxable gift you make uses part of it, and whatever remains at death shelters your estate. The tax on the amount above the exemption runs as high as 40%. Starting in 2027, the exemption rises with inflation. The 2026 figures below come from the IRS.
$15 million
Exemption per person, lifetime gifts and estate combined
$30 million
Married couple, with portability
40%
Top tax rate
$19,000
Annual exclusion, per recipient
Unlimited
Gifts and bequests to a U.S. citizen spouse
For married couples, two deductions remove most of the tax. Property left to a spouse who is a U.S. citizen passes free of estate tax, and so does property left to charity. That is why any estate tax usually comes due at the second death.
Portability lets a surviving spouse keep whatever exemption the first spouse did not use. It requires the executor of the first spouse’s estate to file a federal estate tax return, even when the estate owes nothing.
Planning while you are living
Planning starts with what you own and what you want for your family. From there, we choose among these tools:
Tax planning is usually part of a broader estate plan. We prepare both, so the documents and the tax strategy fit together.
Gift tax returns
You file a gift tax return, Form 709, for any year you give one person more than the annual exclusion of $19,000. Filing usually means no tax is due, because the gift uses part of your lifetime exemption instead. The return records how much it used.
Some gifts need a return at any size, including most gifts to trusts and gifts a married couple elects to split. The return is due April 15 of the following year, and extending your income tax return extends it too. We prepare these returns and keep a running record of your remaining exemption for the estate tax return that will eventually follow.
IRS Form
709
Who files
Anyone who gives one person more than $19,000 in a year, and most gifts to trusts or split gifts at any size
Due
April 15 of the following year, extended along with your income tax return
Tax due
Usually none: the gift uses part of your lifetime exemption
Generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax
A separate federal tax applies to gifts and bequests that skip a generation, such as gifts to grandchildren or to anyone more than 37 and a half years younger than you who is not a family member. It also reaches many trusts set up to benefit grandchildren. The GST tax is charged in addition to any estate or gift tax, at the top estate tax rate of 40%.
Each person also has a GST exemption equal to the estate and gift tax exemption, $15 million in 2026. The exemption is allocated on a gift or estate tax return, and some transfers use it automatically. How it is allocated matters most for trusts meant to last more than one generation: a trust that is fully covered by the exemption can pass to grandchildren and later generations free of GST tax.
If grandchildren or long-term trusts are part of your plan, Gillis Law reviews how your GST exemption has been used so far and allocates it on your gift tax returns.
40%
The GST tax rate, charged in addition to any estate or gift tax
$15 million
The GST exemption per person in 2026, equal to the estate and gift tax exemption
37.5 years
The age gap that makes a gift to someone outside the family a skip
IRS Form
706
Who files
The executor, when the gross estate plus taxable lifetime gifts exceeds the exemption, or to keep the unused exemption for a spouse
Due
Nine months after the date of death; filing can be extended six months, but any tax is still due at nine
Portability only
Up to five years after the death, for an estate that did not otherwise need to file
Estate tax returns after a death
The federal estate tax return, Form 706, is due nine months after the date of death. The executor must file one when the gross estate plus taxable lifetime gifts exceeds the exemption. The executor can extend the filing deadline by six months, but any tax owed is still due at nine months.
Many estates file even though they owe nothing, because the return is how a surviving spouse keeps the unused exemption. An estate that did not otherwise need to file can still elect portability. Under current IRS procedure, the deadline is the fifth anniversary of the death.
When we help an executor or trustee through an estate or trust administration, we plan the tax side at the outset:
- Identifying every asset and arranging appraisals of real estate, business interests and other property without a market price.
- Gathering the history of lifetime gifts and any earlier gift tax returns.
- Deciding whether to elect portability.
- Coordinating the estate tax return with the estate’s income tax filings.
- Dividing the work among the executor, the CPA and our office.
The Virginia probate tax
Virginia charges a probate tax when an executor or administrator qualifies at the circuit court.
The state rate
$1,000 per $1 million
10 cents per $100 of the probate estate. Estates of $15,000 or less are exempt, and localities can add a local tax equal to one-third of the state tax.
Outside the tax
Non-probate assets
Property in a revocable trust, property owned jointly with survivorship rights, and accounts with a named beneficiary all fall outside it.
How estate tax work goes at Gillis Law
01
Meet and review
We go over what you own and how each asset is titled, along with any gifts you have already made. Then we talk about what you want for the people you plan to benefit.
02
Plan and draft
You receive a written plan and draft documents. We go over the key provisions together and adjust them until they reflect your intentions.
03
Put it in place
You sign and complete a short list of follow-up items, such as retitling accounts. We prepare and file the returns when they come due.
We agree with your CPA on who prepares which return and share values and gift records so the numbers match. If you do not have a CPA, we can recommend one.
As a practicing attorney, it is rare for me to engage another lawyer for legal services. My wife and I recently had the privilege of engaging James to handle estate planning documentation.
Client review on Google
Why families and their CPAs choose Gillis Law
James A. Gillis has focused on wills, trusts and estates full time since 2009, including federal gift and estate tax returns. He worked at two boutique firms devoted to wills, trusts and estates, then in the trusts and estates department of an Am Law 200 firm, where he made partner, before founding Gillis Law in 2022. He is admitted in Virginia and the District of Columbia and earned his J.D. cum laude from Drexel University.
Before law school, James underwrote commercial real estate loans. Business interests, rental property and real estate in several states are familiar ground. You work with James directly.
Fees
We explain the fee at your first meeting, so you know the cost before any work begins.
Estate and gift tax questions
Short answers to what people ask before the first meeting.
Have a question that is not here?
Do I need an estate tax attorney if my estate is under $15 million?
Often, yes. A surviving spouse keeps the unused exemption only if the executor files an estate tax return, even when the estate owes nothing. Maryland and D.C. also tax estates starting at about $5 million, including real estate you own there.
Will my children owe tax on what they inherit?
Not to Virginia. An inheritance is not income to the person who receives it. Most inherited assets also take a new tax basis equal to their value at death. That can cut capital gains tax when your children sell. Inherited retirement accounts are the main exception: your children owe income tax on withdrawals.
My spouse died last year and no estate tax return was filed. Is it too late for portability?
Often not. If the estate did not otherwise need to file, the IRS accepts a portability return up to five years after the date of death. Review it as soon as you can.
We want to help our daughter buy a house. Do we need to file a gift tax return?
Each of you can give her up to $19,000 in 2026 without a return, or $38,000 together. A larger gift needs a gift tax return, though in most cases no tax is due. A loan with a written note is another option.
What should I bring to our first meeting?
Bring a list of your assets and how each is titled, plus copies of any wills or trusts. Any gift tax returns you have filed help too. The personal data sheets on the Resources page are a good place to start.
Talk with an Arlington estate tax attorney
You may be planning ahead, or handling an estate after a death. The first meeting is a conversation about what you own and what you want for your family. We serve clients in Virginia and D.C., with a particular focus on Northern Virginia: Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Loudoun. The office is across from the Clarendon Metro station.
Sources for the legal points
IRS, tax year 2026 inflation adjustments ($15,000,000 basic exclusion; $19,000 annual exclusion); IRS Rev. Proc. 2022-32 (late portability election, five years); Virginia Tax, estate and inheritance taxes (repeal for deaths on or after July 1, 2007); Code of Virginia § 58.1-1712 and Virginia Tax, probate tax; Maryland Comptroller, estate tax exemption ($5,000,000).