WASHINGTON - Next year had been shaping up as a great year to get a big inheritance - no federal taxes on it. Congress, however, has other plans for the few wealthy heirs expecting a big boon. Uncle Sam may take a 45 percent cut after all.

Under current law, the federal estate tax is scheduled to temporarily disappear next year before returning in 2011 at an even higher rate. But the House is expected to vote as early as Thursday on a bill that would permanently extend the current top rate of 45 percent on estates larger than $3.5 million.

Married couples, with a little estate planning, can exempt a total of $7 million from the federal estate tax, leaving less than 1 percent of all estates subject to the tax this year.

The Senate is considering similar legislation, though senators are busy trying to overhaul health care, meaning they will probably have to scramble to address the estate tax by the end of the year.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said it is important to set a permanent estate tax so rich families and small business owners can plan accordingly. He said exempting estates as large as $3.5 million from the tax will protect all but the wealthiest Americans.

The quirk in the law, in which the estate tax would disappear for only a year, came out of a series of tax cuts enacted in 2001. Many Republicans, who controlled Congress at the time, wanted to permanently repeal the estate tax, but they settled on a gradual reduction, with a one-year repeal, to reduce the impact on the federal budget deficit.

In 2011, the estate tax is scheduled to return, with a $1 million exemption and top rate of 55 percent, unless Congress acts.