Taiwan's legislature has changed how estate tax is charged on last-minute gifts, 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 person who got a gift pays their own share of the tax.
• The tax bill for each person is capped at the value of what they received, and they owe it even if they give up their inheritance rights.
• The change follows a constitutional court ruling in a case where a man gave his wife a large block of shares, the wife and children walked away from the inheritance, and his out-of-wedlock daughter was left with the entire tax bill.
• The law now spells out who owes estate tax: the heirs and anyone named in the will, or an estate administrator if there are no heirs.
• Paying in installments gets easier — the old rule that only bills above a set threshold could be split up is gone, though missing a payment triggers a demand for the full remaining amount within ten days.

Outlook: Tax authorities will start issuing separate bills to each gift recipient, which should stop a single heir from being stuck with the whole tab.