Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Payment for a sheriff sale property
Dear Fellow BPers,
Here is the gist of a recent sheriff sale acquisition that I would need some help with and it might be educational to some of you.
I acquired the property at a PA Sheriff sale through a mortgage foreclosure. During the foreclosure process (that took years as it was stopped, writ reissued, etc.) the defendant passed away.
I wasn't aware of this (mental note: always check for obituaries), neither was the foreclosing bank, so they did not open an Estate for the deceased. Neither did the heirs but as an investor you should not rely on that anyhow. Now of course I need to pay off the PA Inheritance tax to transfer ownership.
It's not a large amount, however I cannot find the correct way to do it: there are forms available for heirs and mortgagees (banks) to file a return, however I could not find any that would fit my situation. Especially considering I don't have some necessary information, such as the SSN of the deceased.
Called up the Allegheny County Register of Wills where to rep told me to call the Department of Revenue in Harrisburg to ask for a so-called Commonwealth Release of Lien. Well, they haven't been overly responsive so far...
I'm pretty sure many of you have encountered situations such as this since errors in foreclosures are a dime-a-dozen, especially hoping if PA foreclosure experts, such as @David Krulac and @Steve Babiak could chime in!
Thank You in advance,
Kalman