The Internal Revenue Service released Publication 950: Introduction to Estate and Gift Taxes, which is fairly self-descriptive. It explains the basic estate and gift tax system, and provides the numbers of the annual exclusion, and estate and gift tax exemption for 2012.
The annual exclusion will remain at $13,000, but the lifetime exemption for estate taxes and gift taxes will increase from $5,000,000 to $5,1200,000.
Of course, no one knows what will happen when the exemptions are set to expire on December 31, 2012.