They changed this so that the gifted status doesn't last a year from when it was gifted, but lasts until the end of the program year in which the benefit was earned. So, if you gift someone GM using your 2015 choice benefit right now, it will last for 9 days until January 31, 2016.
I had thought they also made the change so that you could gift to people at the same status you were gifting, but I'm not positive.