TRUIRJCA, TRA and DSUEA - New Estate Planning Acronyms You Need to Know Now

Passage of the temporary estate, gift and generation skipping transfer tax laws that will be in effect for 2010, 2011 and 2012 have introduced the following new acronyms:

TRUIRJCA - This acronym stands for "Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act," the official name of the temporary estate tax law that also extended the Bush-era income tax cuts for two years and was signed into law by President Obama on December 17, 2010. This long and unwieldy acronym is undoubtedly modeled after "EGTRRA," which stands for the "Economic Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act" and was signed into law by President George W. Bush back in 2001. EGTRRA gave us the estate tax rules that were in effect for 2002 through 2009.

TRA - This is an abbreviation for TRUIRJCA and simply stands for "Tax Relief Act." I much prefer this acronym instead of TRUIRJCA which in my opinion is just too awkward to use in any context. TRA is short and sweet and really sums up the purpose of the law.

DSUEA - This stands for "deceased spouse's unused exemption (or exclusion) amount" and refers to the new concept of portability of the federal estate tax exemption between spouses. I like this one because it's easy to remember and can be pronounced as an actual word.

• Overview of 2010 Estate Tax Rules
• Overview of 2011 and 2012 Estate Tax Rules
• What is Portability of the Estate Tax Exemption?
• What is the Future of the Federal Estate Tax?