Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Georgia does not have a gift tax or an inheritance tax, but it does have an estate tax for estates of decedents with a date of death before January 1, 2005.

There is a federal inheritance tax however. A filing is required for estates with combined gross assets and prior taxable gifts exceeding $1,500,000 in 2004 - 2005; $2,000,000 in 2006 - 2008; $3,500,000 for decedents dying in 2009; and $5,000,000 or more for decedent's dying in 2010 and 2011 (note: there are special rules for decedents dying in 2010); $5,120,000 in 2012, $5,250,000 in 2013 and $5,340,000 in 2014.

You will also need to research whether that "another state" has any taxes.

Since your inheritance is from someone who lived in another state, you need to direct your question to a probate lawyer in that state. The tax is based on the state where the estate is probated not the state where the beneficiary lives.

PA (where I am licensed) has an inheritance tax. It is not directly paid by the beneficiary; it is is paid by the estate and comes out of estate assets before distribution is made. PA inheritance tax rules depend on your relationship to the deceased. If you are dealing with PA, email me and I can email you the statutes for the tax rates.

As Attorney Ashman noted, GA does not have an inheritance tax. Neither does NC (where I am also admitted). For estate taxes, NC follows the federal government. Since the estate tax limits have been increased (I assume that the person who left you the inheritance has died recently in the past year) then most people with estates under $5 million do not have to pay estate tax.