After long negotiations within the Grand Coalition and despite countless legal criticisms, the Inheritance Tax Reform Act (ErbStRG) has been published in the Federal Law Gazette and came into effect on January 1, 2009. This marks a temporary end to a discussion about the future of inheritance tax that has been ongoing since the Federal Constitutional Court's decision on November 7, 2006, as well as a multi-year phase of uncertainty. In its ruling, the Federal Constitutional Court found that the inheritance tax and valuation law, which was reformed only in 1996, violated the constitution for various reasons. The court granted the legislator a deadline until December 31, 2008, to enable the collection of inheritance tax from 2009 onwards through a reform of both the taxation and valuation regulations. Contrary to the goals of the Grand Coalition...