Toward a Practical Estate-Tax Exclusion for Family-Run Businesses: Analysis of Section 2033A and Proposal for Reform

In a previous work appearing in this Journal, the authors proposed an approach to estate and gift taxation that encourages productive behavior by the recipients of wealth. In this Article, the authors analyze, in the context of their earlier work, the new estate-tax exclusion for closely held businesses (section 2033A) created by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The authors describe the features of a practical family-run business exclusion and conclude that section 2033A, in its present form, fails as a practical exclusion. The authors catalogue those elements of section 2033A that should be retained and propose reforms of those elements that should be eliminated or changed