Taiwan's legislature has rewritten how gifts made shortly before someone dies are taxed, which is good news for heirs who never received those gifts and bad news for relatives who did.

• Gifts handed to certain close relatives within two years of death still count as part of the estate, but now each recipient pays the estate tax on their own share.
• Recipients owe tax even if they give up their inheritance rights or were never legal heirs, and they only owe up to the value of what they got.
• The change follows a constitutional court ruling in a case where a man gave his wife a large block of stock, the wife and children walked away from the inheritance, and his daughter born outside the marriage was left holding the entire tax bill.
• The law also names who is liable — heirs and people named in the will, or an estate administrator when there are no heirs — to settle fights over disputed or badly handled wills.
• Paying in installments gets easier: the minimum tax threshold for installment plans is scrapped, though missing a payment triggers a demand for the full remaining balance within 10 days.

Outlook: Tax offices will now bill each gift recipient separately, which should stop a single unlucky heir from being stuck with someone else's tax bill.