Ultra-Wealthy Families—How the Big Beautiful Bill Protects Your Legacy

If you’ve built significant wealth during your lifetime, the Big Beautiful Bill offers powerful tools to protect it—and pass it on. What’s New for the Ultra-Wealthy?

1. Estate Tax Exemption Raised to $15 Million
You can now pass on up to $15 million tax-free—or $30 million as a couple. That’s a huge jump from before and helps shield your legacy from estate taxes. 

​At $30 million in available exemptions for a couple this means that only 1 in 400 households will be impacted by estate taxes or approximately 350,000 families nationwide.

2. SALT Deduction Expanded (Temporarily)
You can now deduct up to $40,000 in state and local taxes—up from $10,000. This helps those in high-tax states save more.

3. Income Tax Rates Stay Low
The top income tax rate stays at 37%, instead of rising to 39.6%. That means more of your income stays with you.

4. No New Wealth Taxes
The bill didn’t add any new taxes on investment income or estates. It also kept the step-up basis and carried interest rules unchanged.

What kind of savings are we talking about for the ultra-wealthy? 
These changes can translate into massive tax savings. For example, consider the estate tax: previously, if the exemption was about $13 million and someone died with $20 million estate, roughly $7 million could be taxed (at a 40% rate, that’s ~$2.8 million tax due). Now, with a $15 million exemption, the taxable portion in that scenario drops, potentially saving $800,000 or more in estate taxes for their heirs – and if future laws had let the exemption fall to around $7 million, the difference is even bigger (saving on the order of $3+ million in tax).

The raised SALT deduction cap could save a high-earner in a high-tax city up to an additional $10,000+ per year in federal taxes for a few years (since they can deduct $40k of state tax instead of only $10k). And by keeping the top income tax rate at 37% rather than 39.6%, someone with a multimillion-dollar income saves roughly 2.6 cents on every top-end dollar – which adds up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars less in taxes annually for ultra-high incomes. All in all, the ultra-wealthy can preserve more of their wealth, both when earning it and when passing it on to the next generation.

How InTrust Advisors can help ultra-wealthy clients?
We specialize in helping high-net-worth families with wealth management, tax optimization, and estate planning. With the new law, we assist clients in updating their estate plans to fully leverage the $15 million exemption. This might involve strategies like creating or funding dynasty trusts to lock-in the large exemption, accelerating gifting to children or grandchildren (since the higher limits are in place), and generally ensuring your legacy is passed on tax-efficiently. We also provide family office services that cover everything from coordinating with estate attorneys to managing philanthropic endeavors under the new rules.

For example, with the SALT deduction changes, we can examine if it makes sense to prepay certain taxes or restructure how you handle state tax payments in the high-cap years. With income tax rates staying low, we continuously review your investment and income strategies to capitalize on these rates (i.e., harvesting gains, Roth conversions, etc., when advantageous under current law).

InTrust Advisors essentially becomes your partner in navigating these complex changes – making sure you capitalize on every opportunity to save on taxes while safeguarding and growing your wealth for the long term. Our goal is that ultra-wealthy clients keep and control more of their wealth, with smart planning that aligns with the new tax landscape.

Please note the tax law changes noted about are greatly simplified from that actual rules outline in this bill.  Please seek the help of a licensed CPA in evaluating the exact rules, phase outs and enactment periods.