Pennsylvania Schedule H - Funeral Expenses & Administrative Cost (Instructions)

Schedule H - Funeral Expenses & Administrative Cost (Instructions)
Instructions for REV-1511 Schedule H - Funeral Expenses & Administrative Cost
Instructions for REV-1511 Schedule H
Funeral Expenses & Administrative Cost

REV-1511 EX (10-15)

GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSE OF SCHEDULE
Use REV-1511 Schedule H to report any
expenses incurred by administering
the estate.

FORM INSTRUCTIONS
Estate of
Enter the complete name of the estate
as shown on REV-1500, Pennsylvania
Inheritance Tax Return.

File Number
Enter the file number of the estate
assigned by the Register of Wills as
shown on REV-1500, Pennsylvania
Inheritance Tax Return.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Description
A. Funeral Expenses
Itemize, giving names of persons to
whom payable and the exact nature of
the expense. Such expenses include but
are not limited to: opening of graves,
services of mortician, embalming and
transportation, casket, flowers, fee for
religious service, funeral refreshments,
the cost of a burial lot or other resting
place, and purchase and erection of a
marker, gravestone or monument on
decedent’s final resting place. Bequests
or devises in trust or funds placed in
trust after decedent’s death, or funds
paid under a contract after decedent’s
death may be claimed to the extent that
such funds or the income therefrom are
applied to the care and preservation of
the final resting place of the decedent’s
remains, or for religious services.
NOTE: Funeral expenses paid by
a prepaid funeral account are

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deductible, provided that the prepaid
account is reported as an asset of the
decedent on REV-1508, Schedule E.

instituted by the beneficiaries for their
benefit do not constitute a proper
deduction.

B. Administrative Costs

Family Exemption. The family
exemption is a right given to specific
individuals to retain or claim certain
items or amounts of the decedent’s
property in accordance with Section 3121
of the Probate, Estate and Fiduciaries
Code.

You may deduct, in reasonable amounts,
fees for services rendered to the estate
which will be paid. Administration
expenses include but are not limited to:
costs of letters testamentary or of
administration, accounting fees, tax
return preparation fees, estate notices,
inventory, fees of appraisers, witnesses,
short certificates, affidavits, fees
for account and adjudication, public
liability insurance premiums, stock
transfers, stamps, registered mail
charges, certified copies of will, fees for
recording instruments, bank charges for
supervision of entry into safe deposit
boxes, broker’s commissions, state
and local realty transfer taxes, cost of
maintaining property administered, and
other services.
Personal Representative Commissions. Personal representative’s fees
constitute taxable income. Executor fees
received by residents of Pennsylvania
must be reported as compensation for
personal income tax purposes in the year
in which they are received. Corporate
representatives must include a federal
identification number.
Attorney Fees. Attorney fees must be
reasonable given the number and
nature of the assets to be administered,
the value of those assets, the complexity
of the issues involved, and the time
necessary to settle the estate. The
Department of Revenue does not
recognize a set percentage fee or fee
schedule. Any circumstances which
necessitate fees above that which would
normally be incurred should be described
in an attachment to the tax return.
Attorney fees incidental to litigation

IMPORTANT: The spouse of any
decedent, or if there is no spouse,
then such children who resided in the
same household as the decedent at the
decedent’s death, or if there are no
children, then the parent or parents
of the decedent who resided in the
same household as the decedent at the
decedent’s death, may retain or claim
property to the value permitted by law
as the “family exemption” under the
Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code.
The family exemption is $3,500.
The family exemption is generally
payable from the probate estate and, in
certain instances, may be paid from the
decedent’s trust.
Expenses incurred in administering real
property held in the decedent's name
alone are allowed in reasonable
amounts. However, when the decedent
held title jointly with another or others,
with rights of survivorship, expenses
incurred after the decedent's death are
not allowed. If the decedent held title as
a tenant-in-common, expenses incurred
in administering the decedent's interest
are only allowed to the same extent as
the decedent's fractional interest in the
real property.

Total
Total all items in the amount column and
enter here. Enter this value on Line 9,
Page 2 of REV-1500.

REV-1511

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