Taxpayers who want to make the tax code Section 1022 election and not opt for the estate tax for 2010 should fill out Form 8939 in a timely manner before it is due Jan. 17, 2012, said Catherine Hughes, estate and gift tax attorney-adviser with the Treasury Department, at a panel for the D.C. Bar Taxation Section Estate Planning Committee. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 gave estates of individuals dying in 2010 a choice between paying estate tax on property transferred to a beneficiary or having the modified carryover basis rules apply.

Earlier in September, IRS released guidance announcing the January date for filling out the form to elect into the carryover basis regime. Taxpayers cannot revoke the form or file for the first time after that date, Hughes said. Taxpayers who want to change or make an allocation on the form can do so as long as it is done before the due date, Hughes said. After that date, there will be no extensions and relief will be limited, she said.