Estate planning is important for individuals who own sizable amounts of property. But uncertainty surrounding the estate tax makes it difficult for them to choose and implement strategies to reduce the tax.

Under current law, relatively few estates need to be mindful of the estate tax. Typically, a person can leave everything to his or her spouse, undiminished by any tax, thanks to an unlimited marital deduction. (There are different, less bighearted rules for surviving spouses who are not United States citizens.) In addition to the marital deduction, there is a sizable exemption for property that goes to children and other recipients — $3.5 million for 2009, up from $2 million for estates of individuals who died in 2006 through 2008. Assets in excess of the exemption are taxed at a top rate of 45 percent.

Back in 2001, President Bush and a bi-partisan Congress cut a deal for the estate tax to disappear in 2010 and reappear in 2011 with an exemption of only $1 million and a top rate of 55 percent for property in excess of $1 million. My prediction on what is going to take place after the close of 2009: The tax stays in effect, though with different exemptions and tax rates.

As a candidate for president, then-Senator Obama said he favored the status quo, proposing an extension of 2009’s rules into 2010 and beyond. Congress wants to be more generous. It is considering proposals to significantly boost the exemption to somewhere in the $5 million range and $10 million per couple.

Another problem in planning for 2010 and beyond is that Mr. Bush and Congress created a Twilight Zone for the special break authorized by Internal Revenue Code Section 1014 for inherited assets. They generally are stepped-up in basis from their original cost to their value on the date of death of the previous owner. For heirs, that means forgiveness of capital gains taxes on pre-inheritance appreciation and, on subsequent sales, tax liability only on post-inheritance appreciation.

But starting in 2010, the year the estate tax officially comes to an end, a cap kicks in on the amount of assets qualifying for a step-up in basis. Under this restriction, there is a step-up just for the first $1.3 million of assets, increasing to $3 million for assets that go to a surviving spouse.

In the event there is no extension of estate tax repeal, the current step-up system resumes in 2011. But between now and 2011, there might be a further revision or even an undoing of the ceiling on the step up. In the meantime, ceiling detractors maintain that it would introduce costly complexity. According to President Obama’s advisers, he wants to retain the current rules. Stay tuned.

Confusing? Sure. But as of now, no adviser is able to provide definitive advice on how to strategize for 2010 and beyond. Like other advisers, I am able to do little more than offer educated guesses about trends several years from now. After all, advisers are obliged to moderate predictions to reflect assumptions about wide-ranging concerns, such as ballooning budget and trade deficits that weaken the dollar, inflation or deflation, oil prices that increase rapidly and decrease even more quickly, chaotic conditions abroad (particularly in the Middle East) and the potential for terrorist attacks within the United States. But if you stay on top of what’s happening, you can at least be assured of keeping yourself up-to-date and making sure you know what to expect from taxes in the future.

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Julian Block, an attorney in Larchmont, N.Y., has been cited as “a leading tax professional” (New York Times), “an accomplished writer on taxes” (Wall Street Journal) and “an authority on tax planning” (Financial Planning Magazine). For information about his books, visit www.julianblocktaxexpert.com.

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