The Maryland Chamber’s State Taxation Consultant, Karen Syrylo, CPA, will testify today before the House Ways & Means Committee in favor of legislation to reform Maryland’s estate tax. Bills before the committee today include: HB 138, HB 154, HB 307, HB 554, HB 1219, and HB 1348.

Maryland has “decoupled” its estate tax from the federal estate tax, which has caused many complexities and additional costs in planning for the tax’s requirements. The current $1 million threshold results in many middle class taxpayers paying this tax. It is especially harmful to small businesses whose owners face the possibility of knowing that the business will need to be sold in order to generate the cash necessary to pay the tax, rather than passing the business on to their heirs.

“The 2004 changes to Maryland’s estate tax, the so-called “decoupling” changes, have caused great consternation for small business owners across Maryland,” Karen Syrylo, the Chamber’s state taxation consultant said. “Small business owners are spending many hours and dollars with their financial planners and estate attorneys. Questions exist for which there are no agreed upon answers, either among tax advisors or the Comptroller’s office. This compares to the large body of federal regulations, rulings and court decisions that could be utilized when Maryland’s tax was coupled to the federal tax.”

Read More
Chamber Position Statement on HB 307 (pdf)
Governor’s Fact Sheet(pdf)
Op-Ed from Michael W. Davis, Partner, Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny