The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has announced the release of new inheritance tax forms designed to “enhance processing efficiency.”  Tax Update, No. 177 (Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015).

According to the Department:

The newly designed form has revised Ovals 4 through 11 and added Ovals 12, 13 and 14,as described below:

• Oval 4 will be used when the estate is claiming an agricultural exemption.

• Oval 11 will now be used to report non-probate transfers by the transferee that will not be reported on the probate return. Taxpayers should now use this oval in lieu of the Advance Payment Worksheet for such situations.

• Oval 13 will be used to indicate that the estate contains business assets, whether an exemption is being claimed or not.

• Oval 14 will indicate that the spouse is the sole beneficiary of an estate whereby the assets pass outright and not in trust.

In addition to the aforementioned changes, the requirement for the surviving spouse Social Security number has been eliminated; there is a new data-captured box for date stamp entry, which will enable the department to track returns based on the order in which they were filed; and the signature section has been moved to the bottom of the second page to accommodate the date stamp box.

The REV-1501 Instruction Book is being replaced by new REV-1500 Instructions, a seven-page document for the preparation and filing of the Inheritance Tax return, REV-1500. Separate instruction sheets corresponding to most of the individual schedules will be available.

The department has also created a new pamphlet, REV-720, containing general information regarding the Pennsylvania inheritance tax.

Forms and schedules are available at www.revenue.pa.gov

or by calling the department’s form ordering service at 1-800-362-2050.