Does Georgia Have an Inheritance Tax? (2026)

Year's support: Georgia's protection for a spouse and minor children

Despite the name, year's support is not a monthly payment. It is a court award that takes property out of the estate and gives it permanently to the surviving spouse, the minor children or both. In most cases it is available whether or not there was a will.

• Who can ask. A surviving spouse who has not remarried since the death, and children of the person who died who are under 18 and unmarried. Adopted children count; stepchildren do not. A parent, guardian or guardian ad litem files for a child. (source)
• How much. The award should be enough to keep the standard of living the spouse and each minor child had before the death, for 12 months. The court also weighs their other resources, including the spouse's own property and earning capacity, and whether the estate is solvent. (source)
• Ahead of the debts. Year's support is set apart before the debts of the person who died are paid, which is why it matters most when an estate owes money. (source)
• Real estate in the award. Any land in the award needs its full legal description, and a Department of Revenue form PT-61 must be filed for each parcel by the date of the final order. The certificate of the order is recorded with the clerk of superior court. (source)
• Filing and costs. File in the probate court of the county where the person was domiciled. Notice is published in the county newspaper, and in Coweta County, for example, the filing fee is $157 plus $105 for publication. (source)

Settling a Georgia estate without full administration

• Order that no administration is necessary. When there is no will, the heirs all agree on how to divide the property, and the estate owes no debts other than to creditors who consent in writing, the heirs can ask the probate court for an order that no administration is necessary (standard form 9, under O.C.G.A. §53-2-40). It is not available when there is a will. (source)
• Notice and timing. Heirs and any creditors who have not consented must be served at least 30 days before the order can be granted, and notice is published for four weeks when an address is unknown. If no one objects, the court can grant the petition without a hearing. The order is recorded in each county where the land is. (source)
• Money in a bank, up to $15,000. If there is no known will, a bank or credit union may pay up to $15,000 of the person's deposits to the surviving spouse, or if none, to the children, then the parents, then the brothers and sisters, on a signed affidavit. If no one claims it within 45 days, the bank may apply it to funeral and last-illness bills instead. (source)

Creditors and the Georgia notice period

• Publishing the notice. A personal representative publishes a notice to debtors and creditors in the county's legal newspaper once a week for four weeks, starting within 60 days after being appointed. (source)
• Three months to come forward. A creditor who does not notify the personal representative within three months after the last publication loses the right to share equally with other creditors of the same priority, and cannot hold the personal representative liable for money already paid out. If the estate can pay everyone, late creditors can still be paid. (source)

Property tax on an inherited Georgia home

• Apply for your own homestead exemption. Georgia's homestead exemption belongs to the owner who lives in the home. To get it, you must own the house and use it as your legal residence on January 1, and apply with the county by the April 1 property tax return deadline. (source)
• Surviving spouses of veterans and first responders. The unremarried surviving spouse or minor children of a disabled veteran keep that exemption while they live in the home. Surviving spouses of service members killed in a war or armed conflict, and of peace officers or firefighters killed in the line of duty, have their own exemptions. (source)

Georgia is not a community property state

• A fresh basis for heirs. For capital gains purposes, the house, shares or land you inherit are treated as if you acquired them for their fair market value on the date of death. If you sell soon for about that price, there is little or no gain to report. (source)
• Couples who owned property together. Georgia follows the common law rules. When a husband and wife held property jointly, only the half included in the estate of the spouse who died gets the new value. The survivor's own half keeps its original cost. (source)

Georgia income tax on an inherited IRA

• 4.99% for 2026. HB 463, the Georgia Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2026, cut the flat individual income tax rate from 5.19% to 4.99%, retroactive to tax years beginning January 1, 2026. Taxable withdrawals from an inherited traditional IRA or 401(k) are taxed at that rate on a Georgia resident's return. (source)
• Scheduled cuts. The same law lowers the rate further each year starting in 2027 until it reaches 3.99%, so spreading withdrawals over several years can mean a lower Georgia rate on later ones. (source)

If the person who died lived in another state

Georgia law decides only Georgia matters. If your parent was domiciled in another state, or owned a cabin or rental across the line, that state's probate court and tax rules apply to that property, whatever Georgia does. Five states tax heirs themselves, and Maryland taxes both the estate and the heirs.

• Kentucky inheritance tax
• Maryland inheritance tax
• Nebraska inheritance tax
• New Jersey inheritance tax
• Pennsylvania inheritance tax

What matters is where the person who died lived and where their real estate is, not where you live. Compare inheritance tax by state to see who pays and how much.