The Treasury’s “General Explanation of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals” (May 11, 2009) includes estate and gift tax-related proposals to
• require that the adjusted basis of property received by gift or from a decedent be reported consistently with the values used for transfer tax purposes;
• greatly expand the scope of Code Sec. 2704(b) , so that other restrictions on the use or control of the assets in a partnership or other family-owned entity would be ignored in valuing such assets for estate or gift tax purposes; and
• require that all GRATs have a term of not less than ten years, effective for trusts created after the date of enactment.
The idea concerning the GRATS would be bad news, and is a new formulation. The other ones have been discussed previously, and are not unexpected.