Montgomery Purdue attorney Ryan Montgomery recently co-authored two letters to the state legislature in support of confirming Washington state taxpayers will receive the benefit of inflationary adjustments to the exemption from the Washington state estate tax (linked here and here). Both letters seek to permanently eliminate a technical error that halted such inflationary adjustments from 2018 to 2025, and to ensure future inflationary adjustments are calculated based on the data from the current consumer price index for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area. The Washington state Department of Revenue believes that references in the law to the now-defunct consumer price index for the “Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton” metropolitan area block the future application of these valuable inflationary adjustments, which we believe should be applied annually to ensure Washington’s estate tax laws keep pace with the rising cost of living in the state.

If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Montgomery or any of the Montgomery Purdue estate planning attorneys.