H.R. 1301: Death Tax Repeal Act
Sponsor
Randy Feenstra
Republican · IA-4
Bill Progress
Latest Action · Feb 13, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Congress wants to end the federal estate tax
Why it matters
In 2025, only estates worth more than about $14 million owe the federal estate tax — a sliver of the wealthiest households. H.R. 1301 would erase that tax for anyone who dies after it becomes law, and scrap the separate federal tax on wealth passed straight to grandchildren. The gift tax survives, but with a fresh rate table and a $10 million lifetime cushion.
H.R. 1301, the Death Tax Repeal Act, would end the federal estate tax for anyone who dies on or after the day it becomes law. It also ends the generation-skipping transfer tax, the separate federal tax that kicks in when wealth jumps a generation — say, from grandparent straight to grandchild.
This is not a clean sweep of all transfer taxes, though. The gift tax stays. The bill rewrites its rate table so that taxable gifts start at 18% and climb to 35% on anything above $500,000.
It also locks in a $10 million lifetime gift exemption, adjusted for inflation and rounded to the nearest $10,000. In plain terms: you can move a large amount during your lifetime before the gift tax actually bites.
Older trust arrangements get a phased goodbye. For certain qualified domestic trusts tied to a spouse who died before the law takes effect, one tax ends right away, while a tax on some trust distributions can linger for another 10 years.
And if the bill becomes law partway through a year, that year gets split in two for gift-tax math — gifts made before enactment and gifts made after are treated as if they fell in separate years.
H.R. 1301 Bill Summary
What H.R. 1301 actually does.
The estate tax disappears at death
The federal estate tax would no longer apply to anyone who dies on or after the day the bill becomes law.
Wealth handed to grandchildren stops triggering a second tax
The generation-skipping transfer tax, which normally hits assets that leapfrog a generation, would end for transfers made on or after enactment.
The gift tax survives, with a new rate table
Lifetime gifts stay taxable. The rewritten schedule starts at 18% and tops out at 35% on taxable gifts above $500,000.
A $10 million lifetime gift shield stays in place
The bill sets the lifetime gift exemption at $10 million, adjusted for inflation and rounded to the nearest $10,000, so large lifetime transfers stay tax-free up to that line.
Older trusts get a phased exit
For certain qualified domestic trusts tied to a spouse who died before enactment, one tax ends immediately while a tax on some distributions continues for 10 more years.
The enactment year gets split in two
If the law takes effect midyear, gift-tax math treats the stretch before enactment and the stretch after as two separate years.
Who benefits from H.R. 1301?
Heirs to the largest estates
In 2025, the estate tax only reaches estates above roughly $14 million. Those heirs would owe no federal estate tax on deaths after enactment.
Families passing wealth to grandchildren
The bill removes the extra federal tax that lands when assets skip a generation, easing the cost of multigenerational transfers.
Owners of farms and closely held businesses
Families holding land, a company, or other hard-to-split assets could hand them down without a federal estate tax bill forcing a sale to cover it.
Wealthy households making large lifetime gifts
The $10 million lifetime gift exemption stays, so people can still move a substantial sum while alive before the gift tax applies.
Who is affected by H.R. 1301?
People making large lifetime gifts
Even with the estate tax gone, big gifts stay taxable under the rewritten table once they cross the $10 million lifetime line.
Families with older qualified domestic trusts
One trust tax ends at enactment, but a tax on certain distributions keeps running for a 10-year transition, so these plans still need attention.
Estate planners and tax advisers
They would have to work around a hard enactment-date cutoff and the rule that splits the enactment year in two for gift calculations.
Federal budget writers
They would have to absorb the revenue lost from ending the estate and generation-skipping taxes, with only the retained gift tax bringing money back in.
What Congress Is Saying
H.R. 1301 has come up 5 times in the Congressional Record so far.
H.R. 1301 also appeared in 1 more House floor reference and 4 routine cosponsor filings.
HR1301 Legislative Journey
House: Committee Action
Feb 13, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
About the Sponsor
Randy Feenstra
Republican, Iowa's 4th congressional district · 5 years in Congress
Committees: Agriculture, Ways and Means
View full profile →
Cosponsors (182)
This bill has 182 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 180 Republicans. Cosponsors represent 38 states: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, and 35 more.
Sanford Bishop
Democrat · GA
Jason Smith
Republican · MO
Tom Emmer
Republican · MN
Vern Buchanan
Republican · FL
David Rouzer
Republican · NC
Brad Finstad
Republican · MN
Charles Fleischmann
Republican · TN
Mark Amodei
Republican · NV
Claudia Tenney
Republican · NY
Scott Perry
Republican · PA
Daniel Meuser
Republican · PA
Dale Strong
Republican · AL
Cosponsor Coverage Map
Committee Sponsors
Ways and Means Committee
22 of 45 committee members cosponsored
4 Republicans across this committee haven't cosponsored yet. Mobilize their constituents
What laws does H.R. 1301 change?
4 changes
Sections Amended
Section 2502 of Internal Revenue Code of 1986
read as follows: ``(a) Computation of Tax
Section 2505(a) of Internal Revenue Code of 1986
read as follows: ``(1) the amount of the tentative tax which would be determined under the rate schedule set forth in section 2502(a)(2) if the amount with respect to which such tentative tax is to be computed were $10,000,000, reduced by''
Section 2505 of such Code
adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(d) Inflation Adjustment
Section 2505 of such Code
striking ``unified''
H.R. 1301 Quick Facts
- Committee
- Ways and Means
- Chamber
- House
- Policy
- Taxation
- Introduced
- Feb 13, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Feb 13, 2025
Official Sources
Official bill page with status, text, cosponsors, and actions for the Death Tax Repeal Act.
IRS overview page explaining the federal estate tax and gift tax that H.R. 1301 would partly repeal and partly retain.
Official IRS instructions for the United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, relevant to the bill's retained gift tax and exemption rules.
Official U.S. Code text for the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax subtitle that H.R. 1301 would amend.
Official U.S. Code section governing gift-tax computation, directly relevant to the bill's replacement gift-tax rate table.
Official U.S. Code section for the lifetime gift-tax credit, which the bill rewrites to set a $10 million exemption base with inflation adjustment.
Official U.S. Code section for qualified domestic trusts, which the bill addresses through transition rules for older QDOT arrangements.
H.R. 1301 Common Questions
Does H.R. 1301 repeal the federal estate tax?
Yes. The federal estate tax would no longer apply to anyone who dies on or after the day the bill becomes law. Deaths before that date still fall under the current rules.
Would the gift tax still exist under H.R. 1301?
Yes. This is a repeal of the estate tax and the generation-skipping tax, not the gift tax. Gifts stay taxable under a rewritten table that runs from 18% up to 35%.
How much can you give tax-free under H.R. 1301?
The bill keeps a $10 million lifetime gift exemption, adjusted for inflation and rounded to the nearest $10,000. You owe no gift tax until your lifetime gifts pass that line.
What is the top gift-tax rate in H.R. 1301?
35% on taxable gifts above $500,000. The table starts at 18% on the first $10,000 and steps up from there, so a $600,000 taxable gift computes to $190,800 before the lifetime exemption is applied.
Does H.R. 1301 end the tax on wealth passed to grandchildren?
Yes. The generation-skipping transfer tax, which hits assets that jump a generation, would end for transfers made on or after the day the bill becomes law.
What happens to older qualified domestic trusts under H.R. 1301?
It's a phased exit. For a trust tied to a spouse who died before the law takes effect, one tax ends right away, but a tax on certain distributions keeps running for another 10 years.
If the bill passes midyear, are earlier gifts treated differently?
Yes. For gift-tax math, the enactment year is split in two — gifts made before the law takes effect and gifts made after are treated as if they fell in separate years.
Who is behind H.R. 1301?
Representative Randy Feenstra of Iowa introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act, and it has drawn 182 cosponsors, almost all Republicans. It's still in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Based on H.R. 1301 bill text
H.R. 1301 Bill Text
“To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes.”
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
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