DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE Private Letter Valuations Fee [26 Pa.B. 6030] Effective January 1, 1997, the Department of Revenue will begin charging a fee for private letter valuations which involve an actuarial calculation. This fee is similar to that charged by the Internal Revenue Service for private letter rulings which involve an actuarial calculation, and is a result of the increase in requests due to rate changes in the 1995 amendments to the Pennsylvania Inheritance and Estate Tax Act.
The fee must be paid by a certified form of payment prior to the issuance of the valuation. Acceptable forms of payment are a money order, bank draft or certified check made payable to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Personal or business account checks will not be accepted. The fee schedule is as follows:
$250 A single life estate or term certain with no potential for invasion of the trust principal, or the need for a probability of survival computation for the remaindermen.
$450 A single life estate or term certain with potential for trust invasion and/or the need for a survival probability calculation, a double life estate, a fixed annual right of invasion, such as the standard 5% or $5,000.
$650 A life estate calculation involving three or more ages and no right to invade the trust principal, a one or two life unitrust calculation, a one or two life pooled income fund calculation, a term certain with various distribution amounts during the term.
$850 Any complex actuarial calculation involving more than three ages, a trust involving more than a fixed 5% or $5,000 annual right of invasion, a probability of at least one of three or more people surviving a life tenant for distribution to occur at a specific tax rate; or any calculation which requires the development of a specialized computer program(s).
$200 Revision of the computation due to a change in the information originally provided by the estate representative.
Each request for private letter valuation must include the name of the decedent, the date of death and the estate file number. Private letter valuations will not be issued for estate planning purposes. The Department of Revenue will continue to provide single life estate factors by telephone free of charge.
The Department should be contacted at least 3 weeks in advance of the date needed to request a written valuation. The calculation and written valuation will be mailed to the estate representative. Persons who have any questions may contact the Trust Valuation Specialists at (717) 787-8327. Requests can be mailed to Department of Revenue, Inheritance Tax Division, Specialty Tax Unit, Dept. 280601, Harrisburg, PA 17128-0601.
ROBERT A. JUDGE, Sr.,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 96-2107. Filed for public inspection December 13, 1996, 9:00 a.m.]
