Wall Street Journal today reports that the proposed tax legislation is being prepared to include a provision for deaths occurring in 2010, giving the option to choose the law existing in 2010 (repeal, with its loss of step up in basis), or the new law in 2011 (and we fully expect a return of basis step up with the tax exemptions and rates previously discussed).
This is good news for those smaller estates for decedents who passed away in 2010 which would not have paid estate taxes under 2009 or 20011 laws, but who lost the step up in basis. This effectively represented an unintended income tax penalty for smaller estates, which may now be rectified.