explain a sentence
Once the unified transfer tax credit has been exhausted for Federal gift tax purposes, it is no longer available to insulate a decedent's transfers from the Federal estate tax, except to the extent of the excess of the credit amount for estate tax purposes over that for gift tax purposes.

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Question

explain a sentence
Once the unified transfer tax credit has been exhausted for Federal gift tax purposes, it is no longer available to insulate a decedent's transfers from the Federal estate tax, except to the extent of the excess of the credit amount for estate tax purposes over that for gift tax purposes.

Could anyone explain the sentence by using simple sentences?

Thank you!

Answer

This is legal jargon. I'm not a legal expert, but basically it means that once the tax credit is used up for gift tax purposes, it can not then also be applied to offset the descendants estate transfer tax. But if there's any credit left over after using it for the gift tax, the amount left over can be used towards the estate transfer tax.