How to Fill Out and Submit REV-1500: PA Inheritance Tax Return

Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax return, REV-1500, is the form the estate uses to report the decedent’s assets to the Department of Revenue and calculate the tax owed by each beneficiary. You file two copies with the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent lived, within nine months of the date of death. If you arrived here searching for “Form 807,” that number belongs to a Michigan income tax form and has nothing to do with Pennsylvania inheritance tax; the correct Pennsylvania form is the REV-1500, a downloadable PDF from the Department of Revenue.¹

Who Files the Return

The personal representative files the REV-1500. That means the executor named in the will, or the administrator the court appoints when there is no will. The representative must disclose every asset the decedent owned or held an interest in and place each item on the correct schedule.¹

If no personal representative was appointed, or the one appointed doesn’t file, or files but leaves assets out, the person who received the property (the transferee) must file. Transferees include surviving joint tenants, named beneficiaries, and heirs. A transferee files only for property the personal representative omitted, never for property already on the representative’s return.¹

Tax Rates by Beneficiary

Pennsylvania sets the rate by the recipient’s relationship to the decedent, not by estate size. Each rate is a flat percentage applied to that beneficiary’s share:

0 percent for transfers to a surviving spouse; from a parent to a child aged 21 or younger; and from a child aged 21 or younger to a natural, adoptive, or stepparent.
4.5 percent for transfers to lineal descendants and heirs, including children over 21, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and parents inheriting from an adult child. The spouse or widow of a deceased child also qualifies at this rate.
12 percent for transfers to siblings.
15 percent for transfers to everyone else, including nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and unrelated individuals.²

Assets That Are Exempt

Some property is completely excluded from Pennsylvania inheritance tax. You still report it on the return, but it generates no liability:

All life insurance proceeds on the decedent’s life, whether paid to a named beneficiary or to the estate. Refunds of unearned premiums and post-death dividends count as exempt proceeds.
Property owned by husband and wife with right of survivorship, unless the joint ownership was set up in a way that triggers the inter-vivos transfer rules.
Bequests to the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any Pennsylvania political subdivision.
Transfers to organizations operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, plus veterans’ organizations incorporated by act of Congress.³

What to Gather Before You Start

Before opening the form, pull together the decedent’s financial records as of the date of death. The REV-1500 asks for the decedent’s full legal name, Social Security number, and last known address.⁴ You’ll also need date-of-death valuations for every asset.

Request date-of-death balances from banks and brokerages; most institutions can produce them. Real estate usually calls for a formal appraisal, especially anything that isn’t a straightforward single-family home. Closely held businesses and partnership interests typically need a professional valuation. The Department of Revenue compares your reported figures against market data during its review, and unsupported round numbers invite questions.

Attach a copy of the will, or any inter-vivos trust document, to the return. If the estate is large enough to require federal Form 706, a copy of that federal return must reach the Department through the Register of Wills within one month of its federal filing.⁴

Filling Out the REV-1500

The form is organized into lettered schedules. You complete only the schedules that apply and skip the rest. Page 1 asks you to identify the return type (original, supplemental, or remainder) and enter the decedent’s identifying information.

The asset schedules run A through G:

Schedule A covers Pennsylvania real estate owned outright or as tenant-in-common. List each property with its address and date-of-death fair market value.
Schedule B is for publicly traded stocks and bonds. Use the date-of-death closing price, or the average of the high and low if a closing price isn’t available.
Schedule C is for closely held business interests: sole proprietorships, partnership interests, and closely held corporation shares. Attach a professional valuation or a clear explanation of how you arrived at the figure.
Schedule D reports mortgages and notes receivable — money owed to the decedent, such as personal loans or seller-financed mortgages.
Schedule E captures cash, bank deposits, and miscellaneous personal property, including checking and savings accounts, CDs, vehicles, household goods, jewelry, and anything not reported on another schedule.
Schedule F is for jointly owned property held with right of survivorship, other than exempt spousal joint property.
Schedule G covers inter-vivos transfers and non-probate property, including gifts made during the decedent’s lifetime without adequate consideration and assets like retirement accounts payable to a named beneficiary.⁴

Two additional schedules address specific exemptions. Schedule AU handles agricultural-use real estate exemptions, and Schedule C-SB covers qualifying family-owned business exemptions. Both need detailed supporting information; don’t claim either without checking the statutory requirements first.

Deductions on Schedules H and I

Schedule H reports funeral expenses and administrative costs. Reasonable funeral and burial expenses are deductible, including the cost of a burial lot. Administrative expenses incurred in settling the estate are also deductible if reasonable, including attorney fees, executor commissions, accounting fees, and court costs.⁵

Schedule I reports debts, mortgages, and liens the decedent owed at the time of death.⁴

The Recapitulation section totals assets from Schedules A through G, subtracts deductions from Schedules H and I, and produces the net taxable estate. Tax is then calculated by applying each beneficiary class’s rate to that class’s share.

Deadline, Discount, and Penalties

The return and the tax are both due within nine months of the date of death.⁶

Pay early and you save. If the full inheritance tax is paid within three months of the date of death, Pennsylvania grants a five percent discount on the tax. You can make an estimated payment within the three-month window and file the completed return later.⁶

Miss the nine-month deadline and two things happen. Interest accrues on any unpaid tax starting the day after the deadline; the Department of Revenue sets the rate annually. Failing to file at all can produce a separate penalty of 25 percent of the tax ultimately found due or $1,000, whichever is less.⁴

Where and How to Submit

File the return in duplicate — two full copies of the package — with the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent was a resident at the time of death. Include your payment check. The Register of Wills processes the documents locally and forwards them to the Department of Revenue for review.¹

There is no electronic filing option for the REV-1500. Make sure every schedule you completed appears in both copies, along with the will, any trust documents, and any appraisals or valuation reports. Submitting only one copy is a common mistake and delays processing at the Register of Wills office.

Requesting an Extension

If you can’t file within nine months, request an extension from the Department of Revenue before the return is due. Include the decedent’s name, county file number if known, date of death, Social Security number, and the reason more time is needed. Send the request by mail to PA Department of Revenue, Bureau of Individual Taxes, Inheritance Tax Division-EXT, PO Box 280601, Harrisburg, PA 17128-0601, or by email to RA-InheritanceTaxExt@pa.gov.

Extensions are granted for circumstances beyond the estate’s control, such as litigation over assets or disputes about the will. The Department won’t grant one simply because you haven’t gathered the information. If your request is approved, no response is sent; the Department only writes back to reject.⁴

An extension to file does not extend the time to pay. Interest still starts accruing nine months and one day after the date of death on any tax that turns out to be owed. If you know the return will be late, an estimated payment within the nine-month window reduces the interest that piles up.⁴

After You File

Once the Register of Wills forwards the return, the Department of Revenue reviews the asset valuations, deductions, and tax calculation. Review typically takes three to six months, depending on the estate’s complexity.¹

The Department then issues a notice setting the valuation of the assets, the deductions allowed or disallowed, and the tax determined to be due. If the Department agrees with your figures, the notice confirms them. If it disagrees, the notice shows the adjusted amounts and any additional tax owed.

Any interested party who disagrees has 60 days from receipt of the notice to challenge it, and can:

File a written protest directly with the Department, sending a copy to the Office of Attorney General.
Notify the Register of Wills in writing that the issue should be decided at the audit of the personal representative’s account.
Appeal to the court to have the dispute resolved at the account audit or at a time the court sets.

Whichever route you choose, the protest or appeal must specify every objection to the Department’s action.⁷

If You Discover Something Later

When new assets or deductions turn up after the original return is filed — a forgotten bank account, a debt discovered later — file a supplemental return on the same REV-1500 form. On page 1, select “Supplemental Estate Return” under the type-of-return section. Include only the newly discovered items, not everything from the original filing. The supplemental return is also filed in duplicate with the Register of Wills and goes through the same review.⁴

If the supplemental deductions exceed the supplemental assets, the estate may be entitled to a refund of previously overpaid tax. If new assets increase the taxable estate, additional tax and any accrued interest will be due.

1
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Inheritance Tax General Information REV-720
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 72 P.S. Taxation and Fiscal Affairs – 9116
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 72 P.S. Taxation and Fiscal Affairs – 9111
4
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. REV-1500 Inheritance Tax Return
5
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Pennsylvania Code 72 P.S. 9127 – Expenses
6
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Inheritance Tax
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Pennsylvania Code 72 P.S. 9186 – Protest, Notice and Appeal