A new revenue procedure from the IRS allows estates to elect "portability" of a deceased spousal unused exclusion amount as much as five years after the decedent's date of death.
The IRS stated in Rev. Proc. 2022-32 that, even since it began offering the two-year relief period, "the IRS has continued to issue numerous letter rulings" from estates that missed that deadline, placing "a significant burden" on IRS resources.
To reduce the number of letter ruling requests, the new revenue procedure updates the simplified method in Rev. Proc. 2017-34 by extending the period within which the estate of a decedent may make the portability election under the simplified method to on or before the fifth anniversary of the decedent's date of death.
Rev. Proc. 2022-32 is effective July 8, 2022, and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2017-34. Read more.