I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1945
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the value
of qualified historic property shall not be included in determining the
taxable estate of a decedent.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 28, 1995
Mr. BATEMAN (for himself, Mr. SHAW, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. MCCRERY, Mr.
COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. TAYLOR of North Caro-
lina, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. BOUCHER, and Mr. PICKETT) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
that the value of qualified historic property shall not
be included in determining the taxable estate of a dece-
dent.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EXCLUSION FROM ESTATE TAX FOR HISTORIC
PROPERTY 
SUBJECT 
TO 
PRESERVATION
EASEMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part IV of subchapter A of chap-
ter 11 of the Internal Revenue of 1986 (relating to taxable
estate) is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 2057. QUALIFIED HISTORIC PROPERTY.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of the tax im-
posed by section 2001, the value of the taxable estate shall
be determined by deducting from the value of the gross
estate an amount equal to the value of any qualified his-
toric property included in the gross estate.
‘‘(b) QUALIFIED HISTORIC PROPERTY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘qualified historic property’ means any
historic property if—
‘‘(A) on or before the date on which the re-
turn of the tax imposed by section 2001 is filed,
a qualified real property interest described in
section 170(h)(2)(C) in such property is held by
a qualified organization for the purpose de-
scribed in section 170(h)(4)(A)(iv), and
‘‘(B) such property is covered by an agree-
ment meeting the requirements of paragraph
(4) which is entered into on or before such
date.
Such term includes personal property included within, or
associated with, qualified historic property (as defined in
the preceding sentence) if such personal property is cov-
ered by the agreement referred to in subparagraph (B)
which covers such qualified historic property.
‘‘(2) HISTORIC
PROPERTY.—For purposes of
paragraph (1), the term ‘historic property’ means—
‘‘(A) a certified historic structure (as de-
fined in section 170(h)(4)(B)), and
‘‘(B) any other real property to the extent
reasonably necessary for public view and visita-
tion of such structure.
‘‘(3) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATION.—For the pur-
poses of paragraph (1), the term ‘qualified organiza-
tion’ has the meaning given to such term by section
170(h)(3).
‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
AGREEMENT.—For
the purposes of paragraph (1), an agreement meets
the requirements of this paragraph if—
‘‘(A) such agreement is a written agree-
ment signed by each person in being who has
an interest (whether or not in possession) in the
historic property (other than the qualified orga-
nization),
‘‘(B) such agreement is entered into with
a State historic preservation agency (or similar
State agency) and filed with the Secretary with
the return of the tax imposed by section 2001,