Adding a nonfamilial heir to the estate tax deduction.
What changed between versions
The effective date was changed from August 1, 2025 (in the original bill) to August 1, 2025 (in the substitute), while the act's application date for decedents was removed from the final version, creating a potential discrepancy in the text.
A new definition for 'Employee of a farm' was added, specifying that it includes persons hired by the decedent or family who receive wages or benefits, explicitly excluding self-employed persons, independent contractors, and tenant farmers.
The definition of 'Qualified nonfamilial heir' was updated to explicitly include the newly defined 'Employee of a farm' who materially participated in farm operations.
The structure of the definitions section was reorganized to insert the new 'Employee of a farm' definition before the existing 'Farm' and 'Farming purposes' definitions, shifting the numbering of subsequent terms.
Numerous internal references within the statute were updated to reflect the new letter designations for the definitions (e.g., changing references from subsection (g) to (h) and (i) to (j)).
Sections 3 and 4, which stated that specific tax code sections do not apply to the act and confirmed the effective date, were removed entirely in the substitute version.
The bill title was updated to indicate it creates a 'new section' rather than 'new sections', reflecting the addition of the farm employee eligibility criteria.
