Estate Tax

What is an estate tax?

It is a tax levied on the value (usually the net value) of an estate of a deceased person before distributing funds and assets to heirs. As an example, you might be asked to develop an appraisal of the value of the deceased person’s house, commercial property, land, and so on, so that that party can correctly report the value of the properties to the IRS on the appropriate tax forms.

Logically, this situation would involve the IRS, so, in completing your appraisal, you would want to take a look at the IRS requirements and use the appropriate definition of fair market value.