Although some of this planning is used for smaller estates, more standard planning (gifts within annual gift exclusion or for medical or tuition expenses, use of the lifetime exclusion of spouses, use of the marital deduction, etc.) is used to substantially reduce or eliminate tax liability.
Its gift and estate tax audit force has been shrinking, even as the number of taxable estates has more than doubled -- to an expected 45, 000 in 1998 from 19, 000 ten years ago.