Sometimes tax laws create a natural conflict of interest among taxpayers, such as when someone dies, leaves you property, and you have to establish the property’s value. A new tax law addresses this problem. Obviously, the estate’s goal is to value the property as low as possible, because it wants to lower all possible estate taxes. Conversely, you as the beneficiary would like to see the property valued as high as possible, because there is no federal inheritance tax. Even if you later sell the property, you’ll only pay taxes on the amount received in excess of the value of the property on the date it was received. The IRS finds itself in a pickle because a single piece of property may be given two very different values by the estate and beneficiary. How is the IRS solving the issue? They now require a statement of value for assets transferred through an estate, and that value must be reported to them and to the person receiving the property from the estate. The new requirement applies to all estates filing tax returns after July 31, 2015. The statement of value must be provided to the IRS and the beneficiaries within 30 days after either the due date of the return or after filing the return, whichever is earlier. The reporting requirement is mainly going to impact large estates, and it impacts both estates and those who receive benefits from an estate. You could be impacted by simply receiving a small part of someone else’s estate. If that happens, you’ll need to look for the new statement of value.