The short answer
Often not. For an inherited house, the tax starting point, called basis, is generally its value on the date your parent died. What they paid for it long ago generally doesn't set it.
So the taxable gain is usually only any rise in value since the death, and it counts as long term. A child can't use a parent's years of living there for the home-sale exclusion. A house you already owned with your parent, or were given while they were alive, follows different rules.
This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.
What to do
- Get the house's value at the date of death, in writing, from the executor or an appraiser.
- Ask whether anyone was already on the deed, and how they held it.
- Keep records of any work on the house after the death.
- Ask the title company who files Form 1099-S.
- Ask a tax preparer before you sign the sale.
What can wait
- Deciding what to do with your share of the money once the house sells.
- Sorting the rest of your parent's papers. The tax on the sale needs only the few kept in the small file for the house.
Who can help
A tax preparer can tell you your basis, what to report, and when. An appraiser can value the house as of the date of death.
The title company or closing attorney can tell you who files Form 1099-S, and whether the state where the house is takes tax at closing.
The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’, courts’ and organizations’ own pages in October 2026. Where a rule differs by state, the book names one state as an example. Check anything you rely on with the office itself.
From Book 4: Their House
This page has the short answer and the closing lists from chapter 5. The full chapter explains, in plain words, what exists, what to ask, and who can answer. The book covers months 3 to 15 after the death.
Questions near this one
Other questions on related subjects, from this book and the others.
- Do I owe tax on what I inherit? Book 3, Their Money
- What is worth selling, and what is an estate sale? Book 4, Their House
- What if we cannot agree about the house? Book 5, Siblings and the Estate
- What happens to a 401(k) or IRA, and who pays tax on it? Book 3, Their Money
Hear when Their House is out
A short note when each book is out. Five or six emails a year at most. You can unsubscribe whenever you like.