Inheritance tax on joint accounts
I’m claiming my mother as a dependent and filing as head of household as I have the last few years. She passed away in 2025 but I’ve confirmed I can still claim her as dependent on my 2025 taxes. I have a question about inheritance tax.
She didn’t have a will and had 2 assets. A checking account containing about $23,000 at the time of death. In addition to her name, my name was also on the account. I never contributed to it nor did I take money out for myself. But my name was listed on the account. My name was actually listed first. Do I have to pay an inheritance tax due to me ‘inheriting’ her half? For Turbo Tax purposes, would this be categorized as an inheritance?
Similarly, she also had about $2,600 in a credit union account. My name was also listed on this account. I’m assuming I also need to claim her half of this as an inheritance. I did receive a letter after her death from the PA Dept. of Revenue (Pennsylvania is where my mother and I resided) indicating that the credit union notified PA that since I was a joint owner of my mom’s account, I had to pay PA a 4.5% tax on half the amount. I’ve since sent PA a check and paid that tax. Interestingly, I never received any notification from the Federal Government about this. I would think since the credit union notified the PA Dept of Revenue, they would have notified the Federal Government too. I assume I still need to list this as an inheritance on the Federal return. Is that true?