Section 1202 - Procedure for the collection of transfer inheritance taxes on transfers from estates of nonresident decedentsThe Department of Revenue shall exercise the following powers and perform the following duties, heretofore exercised and performed by the Auditor General, in connection with the collection of transfer inheritance taxes on transfers from estates of nonresident decedents:
(a) Whenever property within this Commonwealth is transferred from a decedent, who was a nonresident of the Commonwealth at the time of death, the Department of Revenue, whenever occasion may require, on the application of any interested party, or upon its own motion, shall appoint an appraiser to appraise the value of such property if subject to transfer inheritance tax. Every such appraiser shall forthwith give notice by mail, to such person as the Department of Revenue shall direct, of the time and place when and where he will appraise such property. He shall, at such time and place, make a fair conscionable appraisement of said property, and assess and fix the cash value of all annuities on life-estates growing out of said estates, upon which annuities and life-estates the tax imposed by this act shall be immediately payable out of the estate, and he shall make report thereof and of such value in writing to the Department of Revenue, which report shall be filed in the office of the department, and the department shall immediately give notice thereof by mail to all parties known by it to be interested therein;(b) Whenever the interests of the Commonwealth may require, the Department of Revenue is authorized to appoint such additional appraisers, or employ such investigators or experts, as it may deem best, to make appraisements of or investigations in regard to the property of any nonresident decedent subject to transfer inheritance tax. The compensation of all such persons so employed by the department shall be fixed by the Secretary of Revenue, with the approval of the Governor, as in other cases;(c) Any person not satisfied with the appraisement, made by an appraiser appointed by the Department of Revenue, may appeal within thirty days, to the court of common pleas of Dauphin County, on paying or giving security to pay all costs, together with whatever tax shall be fixed by the court. Upon such appeal, the court may determine all questions of valuation, and the liability of the appraised estate for such tax. Any person not satisfied with such appraisement shall have the right, at any time thereafter, to pay the full amount of the tax assessed thereon or any part thereof, without prejudice to his right to file and prosecute an appeal therefrom: Provided, That such payment shall be accompanied with a protest that the whole or any designated part thereof is not justly and legally due, and with the payment of such interest, if any, as may then be due upon the principal sum paid. Whenever the whole or any part of such tax shall have been so paid under protest before the filing of an appeal, the appellant shall be required to give security only for the payment of all costs, and such additional tax as shall be fixed by the court.
Whenever the amount of tax, determined by the final judgment entered upon any such appeal, shall be less than the principal sum paid under protest, the Department of Revenue shall enter a credit in the amount of such difference to the account of the appellant. Such credit may be used by the appellant in payment of any other tax claim or charge which may be due or become due from him to the Commonwealth, and if all such charges have been fully paid, any remaining credit may be assigned to any other person, association, or corporation; and such assignee may use it in payment of any such obligation to the Commonwealth;
(d) The Department of Revenue shall enter in a public record the returns made by all appraisers appointed by it to appraise the property of nonresident decedents within this Commonwealth subject to transfer inheritance taxes, opening an account in favor of the Commonwealth against each such decedent's estate. The Department of Revenue may give certificates of payment of said tax, from said record, and upon payment thereof, shall give a receipt therefor to the party paying the same.1929, April 9, P.L. 343, art. XII, § 1202. Amended 1931, June 1, P.L. 318, § 1; 1935, July 15, P.L. 1029, § 2; 1971, June 3, P.L. 131, No. 6, §1 ( § 509(a)(86)).