I agree; placing property in a trust by a living person (a grantor who is still alive) does not impact the basis, one way or the other (versus not placing the property in a trust) unless assets are actually sold to the trust (typically this would involve an IDGT as an estate planning vehicle).
What this does impact is whether the grantor still technically owns the property (i.e., the trust is a grantor trust (or partial grantor trust)) or whether the grantor has totally relinquished dominion and control over trust assets to the extent that the trust is now a separate entity (i.e., a nongrantor trust). The terms of the trust need to be reviewed in order to make that determination.
