What is the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax?

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” Benjamin Franklin, 1789. The Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax is a tax imposed on the privilege of inheriting property when someone dies. The inheritance tax rate is based on the relationship between the decedent and the beneficiary. Unlike an estate tax, there is no threshold below which the tax is not imposed. By default, it is the beneficiaries, not the estate, that are ultimately liable for paying this tax; however, a will often provides that the estate should pick up this tab as well.