On March 31, the New York legislature passed Senate Bill 6359 and the identical Assembly Bill 8559, and Governor Cuomo signed them into law, increasing the NY estate tax exclusion from $1,000,000 to $5,250,000 over the next four years.  Specifically, the estate tax exclusion will be:

• $2,062,500 for decedents dying on or after 4/1/2014
• $3,125,000 for decedents dying on or after 4/1/2015
• $4,187,500 for decedents dying on or after 4/1/2016
• $5,250,000 for decedents dying on or after 4/1/2017

The intention was to bring the NY exclusion into line with the federal exclusion, which was $5,250,000. But the federal exclusion is adjusted for inflation each year, and has changed to $5,340,000 in 2014, so it will certainly be more than $5,250,000 by the time NY reaches that exclusion amount in 2017. DBE