Although federal estate tax repeal has been a talking point for the Republican party for years, and estate tax repeal was part of the tax bill that passed the House of Representatives November 16th, the amended version of H.R. 1 that passed the Senate early on Saturday morning, December 2nd, does not repeal the estate tax.

Instead, the Senate amendment doubles the basic exclusion amount, from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 (which would be $11,210,000 in 2018 with adjustments for inflation), but only for deaths occurring (and gifts made) in years 2018 through 2025.  After 2025, the exclusion amount would revert to $5,000,000 (with inflation adjustments).

This is one of a number of changes between the House and Senate versions of the bill that will have to be addressed in a conference committee (assuming that the House is not willing to simply approve the Senate version of the bill).  If the conference committee is able to agree on a compromise version of the bill, then both houses would have to pass the conference committee version in order for the bill to be enacted.