Behavioral Responses to Inheritance Taxes: Evidence from Brazil

Abstract

In this paper, I examine behavioral responses to inheritance and gift taxes using administrative microdata from Brazil, in a context where taxpayers knew three months in advance that tax rates would increase. I document four findings. First, gifts surge by about 300% just before the reform takes effect. Second, estate filings fall by 30%, largely because small estates become exempt. Third, taxable households respond on the intensive margin by reducing the size of declared bequests, implying an elasticity of reported bequests with respect to the net-of-tax rate of 2.3–3.2. Fourth, liquid assets are reallocated across transfer channels: gift liquidity rises by 43%, while bequest liquidity declines by 22%. Overall, these results show how tax rates, exemption thresholds, and asset liquidity jointly affect the timing, size, and composition of wealth transfers.