What is the big beautiful bill for estate and gift taxes?

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, is the federal legislation that permanently raises the unified estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to $15,000,000 per individual ($30,000,000 for married couples), effective January 1, 2026, while eliminating the prior law's scheduled 2026 sunset back to roughly $7 million.

Before OBBBA, the higher exemption established under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was set to expire at the end of 2025, which had prompted a wave of urgent lifetime gifting to lock in the higher amount before it disappeared. The new law removes that deadline pressure by making the $15 million exemption permanent and indexed for inflation, meaning it will continue rising each year rather than reverting downward. The top transfer tax rate remains 40%, and the step-up in basis at death is unchanged: inherited assets still receive a basis equal to fair market value on the date of death, while lifetime gifts carry over the donor's original basis.

For gift and estate planning, this shift changes the calculus considerably. With a stable, high exemption in place, there is less urgency to gift assets before a deadline, but valuation still matters just as much, because any transfer, whether during life or at death, still needs to be reported at fair market value.

• Gifts of business interests, real estate, or other non-cash assets still require a defensible valuation to substantiate the reported value on Form 709.
• Estates approaching or exceeding the exemption threshold still need accurate, well-documented valuations to support Form 706 filings.
• Family transfers involving discounts for minority interests or lack of marketability still require appraisal support to withstand IRS review.

If you're planning a gift or structuring an estate under the new exemption levels, a USPAP-compliant gift tax appraisal can document fair market value and support your filing. For related questions, see how gifts are valued for tax purposes and whether an appraisal is required for a gift tax return.