On February 17th, the IRS released an important Notice allowing an extension to make a portability election for certain qualifying estates. An executor of a qualifying estate that wants to obtain the extension granted by this notice must file the application for a six month extension no later than 15 months after the decedent’s date of death. With the extension granted by this notice, the Form 706 of a qualifying estate will be due 15 months after the decedent’s date of death. The first of these extensions (and underlying Form 706) will be due April 2nd. Estates qualifying for this election must meet the following requirements:

• The decedent must have a date of death after 12/31/10 and before 7/1/11
• The decedent must be survived by a spouse
• The gross estate does not exceed $5 million
• The estate is not a qualifying estate if the estate effectively requested an automatic six-month extension of time to file Form 706 by timely filing Form 4768 on or before the due date for filing Form 706.

The executor of a qualifying estate may file Form 4768 at the same time as the executor files Form 706, as long as both are filed on or before the date that is 15 months after decedent’s date of death. To obtain the extension, the executor must meet the following requirements:

• The executor files Form 4768 with the Service office designated in the form’s instructions;
• The executor files Form 4768 no later than 15 months from the decedent’s date of death; and
• The executor enters at the top of Form 4768 the notation “Notice 2012-21, Extension for Good Cause Shown” or otherwise sufficiently notifies the Service on or with Form 4768 that Form 4768 is being filed pursuant to this notice.