The electronic ground state and the three first excited states of AgNH3 have been investigated theoretically. At the ab initio CASPT2 level, there isa quasi-degeneracy of the C-3v minima of the (2)A(1) and E-2 excited states (D-e = 1.38 and 1.40 eV, respectively). While the E-2 state displays a clear Ag(5p(pi)) + NH3 character, the nature of the (2)A(1) is more subtle, with both charge transfer and Rydberg characters. Semi-empirical introduction of the spin-orbit coupling enables the interpretation of a few features of the intricated R2PI spectrum.