The Accidental (Tax-Free) Billionaire
Dan Duncan was the son of an oil-field roughneck. From humble beginnings, Mr. Duncan started his own oil and gas business in 1968 with $10,000 and a truck. Over the years, Duncan grew that business into a prosperous venture which is now known as Enterprise GP Holdings L.P., a publicly traded company (Ticker EPE). At his death on March 28th of this year, Duncan had an estimated net worth of $9 billion and was ranked No. 74 on Forbes list of the world’s richest individuals. It appears that Duncan is the first American billionaire to pass his wealth free of the estate tax since the modern estate tax was originally imposed in 1916.
As we have previously discussed in WealthLawBlog, the federal estate tax is on a one-year hiatus in 2010. In 2009, the first $3.5 million in net worth was exempt from the estate tax, with a top tax rate of 45%. In 2011, the estate tax returns with only a $1 million exemption and a top rate of 55%. Hence, if Duncan had died three months earlier or nine months later, his estate would have been liable for billions in federal estate taxes.
However, Duncan’s death is not entirely tax free. One quirk in the 2010 estate tax law is an anomaly referred to as “carryover basis.” Generally, under the modern estate tax regimen, while estates are subject to the estate tax, the assets that are subjected to the tax receive a “step-up” in their tax bases equal to the value of such assets as of the decedent’s date of death. This means that the heirs receiving these assets can sell those assets and pay capital gains taxes on only the appreciation in the value of those assets exceeding the stepped-up bases. In 2010, assets receive no step-up in basis except for a limited step-up of $3 million for assets passing to a surviving spouse and $1.3 million for assets passing to other heirs.
In the case of Duncan’s estate, except for these limited exceptions to the step-up basis rule, Duncan’s heirs will inherit the assets in Duncan’s estate with carryover tax bases. If the Duncan heirs sell these assets, then they will pay capital gains taxes on the difference between the sale price of the assets and Duncan’s original basis. Based upon the presumption that much of Duncan’s estate consists of his company shares with a very low basis, the ultimate capital gains taxes payable by Duncan’s heirs could be substantial. Nevertheless, even if the taxes are paid at the increased capital gains rate for 2011 of 20% (increasing to 23.8% in 2013), these taxes are certainly much less than the estate tax rates of 45% to 55%.
The bottom line: death and taxes are still inevitable. It’s only their timing and severity that varies.
As reported in 
On December 16, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Democrats’ attempt to extend the Federal Estate Tax exemption of $3.5 million into 2010 has been blocked by the Republicans. Senator Max Baucus is quoted as saying, “We clearly will work to do this retroactively, so that when the law is changed, it will have retroactive application.” .jpg)
