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The Daily Insight

How can I avoid paying taxes on inheritance?

Author

Andrew Ramirez

Published Mar 22, 2026

4 Ways to Protect Your Inheritance from Taxes

  1. Consider the alternate valuation date. Typically the basis of property in a decedent’s estate is the fair market value of the property on the date of death.
  2. Put everything into a trust.
  3. Minimize retirement account distributions.
  4. Give away some of the money.

What is limit on inheritance that is tax free?

Lifetime gift tax exemption most commonly comes into play in scenarios of estate and inheritance, but that isn’t the exemption’s only application. You can give a person $15,000 every year without having to pay gift taxes on the money.

How to minimize taxes when you inherit an IRA?

We share some tips to minimize taxes on your inherited IRA. You have two main options after inheriting a retirement account. Withdraw all of the money and receive a whopping tax bill, or move the inherited 401(k) or IRA into a Beneficiary IRA (aka Inherited IRA) and defer taxes until you make withdrawals.

Do you have to pay taxes on an inheritance?

So in a real sense, your inheritance is indeed taxed under these circumstances. A layperson may assume that an inheritance tax and an estate tax are the same thing. In fact, these terms are not interchangeable. The estate tax is levied on the entirety of the estate in question.

What happens if I inherit money from my mom?

So, if your mom dies and has $50,000 in her checking account or you find it stuffed under her mattress, you can receive that money and it’s not income to you (providing you are a beneficiary of her estate). This is true whether you inherit the money from a relative or a friend.

What are the different types of inheritance tax?

There are three categories of threshold when it comes to inheritance tax, or Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT), depending on the relationship between the recipient and the donor of the inheritance.