Unlimited marital deduction

Unlimited marital deduction

An Internal Revenue Service provision that allows an individual to transfer an unlimited amount of assets to a spouse, during life or at death, without incurring federal estate or gift tax.

Unlimited Marital Deduction

An exemption that allows spouses to transfer an unlimited amount of property between themselves without incurring the gift tax. Most gifts over a certain (large) amount are subject to the gift tax. In order to prevent this from negatively impacting spouses who have not joined all their property, the unlimited marital deduction exempts married couples from the tax entirely.