Time and money spent preparing for the death tax simply does not help a business in any other way. This diversion of valuable human and financial capital achieves absolutely no economically useful purpose. It does not increase productivity, expand a workforce or put new product on the shelf. A business pays this cost every year, not just at some uncertain future date when an even bigger bill comes due. There is no simple solution in estate planning.
Uncertainty is unavoidable.
To begin with business owners do not know when they will have to pay the tax. Then it is hard to anticipate how much tax will be owed, because you cannot know in advance if the IRS will agree with what you think is a fair valuation of your business. Without a fair market value sale, the valuation is purely subjective and is open to costly debate and dispute. There are no simple tools that solve the liquidity problem. Well, it's so complicated and so narrowly crafted that it is hard to find a single attorney anywhere who is willing to advise a client that the family business will qualify.