“Because not only do you not have to pay gift tax, but the discount for marketability has shot up, too," Lance Hall (FMV Opinions) told the The Wall Street Journal, in the recent article, “How Volatility Eases Estate Planning.” The IRS generally allows a 30% to 35% discount on transfers of private company stock, the article quotes Hall as saying. “But when the publicly traded markets are more unpredictable than usual,” the article adds, “owners of private stock have successfully argued for larger discounts on the value of their holdings as well. Mr. Hall has used an indicator of market volatility known as the VIX to defend larger discounts on transfers of stock in private companies.”