Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging, during a person’s life, for the management and disposal of that person’s estate during the person’s life and at and after death, while minimizing gift, estate, generation skipping transfer, and income tax.
Inheritance tax is imposed as a percentage of the value of a decedent’s estate transferred to beneficiaries by will, heirs by intestacy and transferees by operation of law. The tax rate varies depending on the relationship of the heir to the decedent.
The rates for Pennsylvania inheritance tax are as follows:
0 percent on transfers to a surviving spouse or to a parent from a child aged 21 or younger;
4.5 percent on transfers to direct descendants and lineal heirs;
12 percent on transfers to siblings; and
15 percent on transfers to other heirs, except charitable organizations, exempt institutions and government entities exempt from tax.
The form below, with calculated fields, can be used to calculate the amount of PA Inheritance Tax that will be due, depending on the relationship of the heir to the decedent.