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S2088 • 2025

An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax

An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax

Taxes
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Bruce E. Tarr
Last action
2026-04-01
Official status
Reporting date extended to Thursday June 25, 2026
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax

An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax By Mr.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax By Mr.
  • Tarr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No.
  • 2088) of Bruce E.
  • Tarr for legislation relative to modernizing the estate tax.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-04-01 Senate

    Reporting date extended to Thursday June 25, 2026

  2. 2025-11-18 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 11/18/2025 from 10:00 AM-11:00 AM in B-1 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  3. 2025-11-17 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 11/18/2025 from 10:00 AM-01:00 PM in B-1 and Virtual Hearing location changed

  4. 2025-11-07 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 11/18/2025 from 10:00 AM-01:00 PM in A-1

  5. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Referred to the committee on Revenue

  6. 2025-02-27 House

    House concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to modernizing the estate tax
By Mr. Tarr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2088) of Bruce E. Tarr for legislation relative to modernizing the estate tax. Revenue.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill S.2088

SECTION 1. Section 2A of chapter 65C of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (a) and inserting in place the following subsection:-

(a) A tax is hereby imposed upon the transfer of the estate of each person dying on or after January 1, 1997, who, at the time of death, was a resident of the commonwealth. The amount of the tax shall be equal to the credit for state death taxes that would have been allowable to a decedent’s estate as computed under Code section 2011, as in effect on December 31, 2000, hereinafter referred to as the “credit”. In the event that the federal gross estate of a person includes real or tangible personal property located outside of Massachusetts at the time of death, the tax shall be reduced by an amount equal to the proportion of such allowable credit as the value of said real or tangible personal property located outside of Massachusetts bears to the value of the entire federal gross estate wherever situated, as determined under Code section 2011, as in effect on December 31, 2000.

SECTION 2. Said section 2A of said chapter 65C, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following subsections:-

(f) Effective for the estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2024, for purposes of computing the tax imposed by subsections (a) and (b), the credit shall be determined based on the value of the federal taxable estate after such estate is reduced by $5,000,000. Estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2022, are not required to pay any tax under subsections (a) and (b) if the value of the federal taxable estate is $5,000,000 or less. For purposes of this subsection, the federal taxable estate is the federal gross estate less any Qualified Conservation Exclusion elected under Code section 2031(c), as in effect on December 31, 2000, and further reduced by the deductions allowable by the Code, as in effect on December 31, 2000.

(g) the amount in question for affected estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2024, shall be adjusted annually to reflect the aggregate quarterly change in salaries and wages in the commonwealth for the most recent 4 quarters as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of Commerce

SECTION 3. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect for the estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2024.

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