II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 215 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the estate and 

generation-skipping transfer taxes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2019 

Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BARRASSO, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 

Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. 

CRUZ, Mr. DAINES, Ms. ERNST, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. 

GRASSLEY, Mr. HOEVEN, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ISAKSON, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MORAN, Mr. RISCH, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. COTTON, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. 

PERDUE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal 

the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Death Tax Repeal Act 

5 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF ESTATE AND GENERATION-SKIPPING 

2 TRANSFER TAXES. 

3 (a) ESTATE TAX REPEAL.—Subchapter C of chapter 

4 11 of subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 2210. TERMINATION. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

8 (b), this chapter shall not apply to the estates of decedents 

9 dying on or after the date of the enactment of the Death 

10 Tax Repeal Act of 2019. 

11 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN DISTRIBUTIONS FROM QUALIFIED

12 DOMESTIC TRUSTS.—In applying section 2056A with re13 spect to the surviving spouse of a decedent dying before 

14 the date of the enactment of the Death Tax Repeal Act 

15 of 2019— 

16 ‘‘(1) section 2056A(b)(1)(A) shall not apply to 

17 distributions made after the 10-year period begin18 ning on such date, and 

19 ‘‘(2) section 2056A(b)(1)(B) shall not apply on 

20 or after such date.’’. 

21 (b) GENERATION-SKIPPING TRANSFER TAX RE22 PEAL.—Subchapter G of chapter 13 of subtitle B of such 

23 Code is amended by adding at the end the following new 

24 section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 2664. TERMINATION. 

2 ‘‘This chapter shall not apply to generation-skipping 

3 transfers on or after the date of the enactment of the 

4 Death Tax Repeal Act of 2019.’’. 

5 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

6 (1) The table of sections for subchapter C of 

7 chapter 11 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 item: 

‘‘Sec. 2210. Termination.’’. 

10 (2) The table of sections for subchapter G of 

11 chapter 13 of such Code is amended by adding at 

12 the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 2664. Termination.’’. 

13 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to the estates of decedents dying, 

15 and generation-skipping transfers, after the date of the 

16 enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. MODIFICATIONS OF GIFT TAX. 

18 (a) COMPUTATION OF GIFT TAX.—Subsection (a) of 

19 section 2502 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(a) COMPUTATION OF TAX.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The tax imposed by section 

23 2501 for each calendar year shall be an amount 

24 equal to the excess of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a tentative tax, computed under para2 graph (2), on the aggregate sum of the taxable 

3 gifts for such calendar year and for each of the 

4 preceding calendar periods, over 

5 ‘‘(B) a tentative tax, computed under para6 graph (2), on the aggregate sum of the taxable 

7 gifts for each of the preceding calendar periods. 

8 ‘‘(2) RATE SCHEDULE.— 

‘‘If the amount with respect to which the 

tentative tax to be computed is:.

The tentative 

tax is: 

Not over $10,000 ........................................................... 18% of such amount. 

Over $10,000 but not over $20,000 .............................. $1,800, plus 20% of 

the excess over 

$10,000. 

Over $20,000 but not over $40,000 .............................. $3,800, plus 22% of 

the excess over 

$20,000. 

Over $40,000 but not over $60,000 .............................. $8,200, plus 24% of 

the excess over 

$40,000. 

Over $60,000 but not over $80,000 .............................. $13,000, plus 26% of 

the excess over 

$60,000. 

Over $80,000 but not over $100,000 ............................ $18,200, plus 28% of 

the excess over 

$80,000. 

Over $100,000 but not over $150,000 .......................... $23,800, plus 30% of 

the excess over 

$100,000. 

Over $150,000 but not over $250,000 .......................... $38,800, plus 32% of 

the excess over 

$150,000. 

Over $250,000 but not over $500,000 .......................... $70,800, plus 34% of 

the excess over 

$250,000. 

Over $500,000 ............................................................... $155,800, plus 35% of 

the excess over 

$500,000.’’. 

9 (b) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TRANSFERS IN

10 TRUST.—Section 2511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 subsection: 

3 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TRANSFERS IN

4 TRUST.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec5 tion and except as provided in regulations, a transfer in 

6 trust shall be treated as a taxable gift under section 2503, 

7 unless the trust is treated as wholly owned by the donor 

8 or the donor’s spouse under subpart E of part I of sub9 chapter J of chapter 1.’’. 

10 (c) LIFETIME GIFT EXEMPTION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 

12 2505(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

13 amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(1) the amount of the tentative tax which 

15 would be determined under the rate schedule set 

16 forth in section 2502(a)(2) if the amount with re17 spect to which such tentative tax is to be computed 

18 were $10,000,000, reduced by’’. 

19 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 2505 of 

20 such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol21 lowing new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(d) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any calendar 

24 year after 2011, the dollar amount in subsection 

25 (a)(1) shall be increased by an amount equal to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

2 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter3 mined under section 1(f)(3) for such calendar 

4 year by substituting ‘calendar year 2010’ for 

5 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 

6 thereof. 

7 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If any amount as adjusted 

8 under paragraph (1) is not a multiple of $10,000, 

9 such amount shall be rounded to the nearest mul10 tiple of $10,000.’’. 

11 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (1) Section 2505(a) of such Code is amended 

13 by striking the last sentence. 

14 (2) The heading for section 2505 of such Code 

15 is amended by striking ‘‘UNIFIED’’. 

16 (3) The item in the table of sections for sub17 chapter A of chapter 12 of such Code relating to 

18 section 2505 is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 2505. Credit against gift tax.’’. 

19 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

20 this section shall apply to gifts made on or after the date 

21 of the enactment of this Act. 

22 (f) TRANSITION RULE.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of applying 

24 sections 1015(d), 2502, and 2505 of the Internal 

25 Revenue Code of 1986, the calendar year in which 


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1 this Act is enacted shall be treated as 2 separate cal2 endar years one of which ends on the day before the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act and the other of 

4 which begins on such date of enactment. 

5 (2) APPLICATION OF SECTION 2504(b).—For 

6 purposes of applying section 2504(b) of the Internal 

7 Revenue Code of 1986, the calendar year in which 

8 this Act is enacted shall be treated as one preceding 

9 calendar period. 

Æ 


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