This estate tax calculator estimates the federal bill due when someone dies, following the same lines as Form 706, the return an executor files. Enter the gross estate at fair market value, then subtract debts and costs, anything passing to a husband or wife, and bequests to charity. Add lifetime taxable gifts, pick the year of death, and the tool applies the 18% to 40% unified rate schedule and the $15 million basic exclusion.
Results show the tax due, the credit that cancels most of it, and, for married people, the unused shelter a survivor can keep. The defaults describe an unmarried person who dies this year owning $18M, with $500,000 of debts and costs, a $500,000 charitable bequest, and $1M of past taxable gifts. The answer: $1.2M.
Estate Tax Calculator
Estimate the federal estate tax from the gross estate, deductions, lifetime taxable gifts, and the basic exclusion amount, with portability (DSUE) for married couples.
Estimates follow Form 706 Part II and the unified rate schedule for deaths in 2024, 2025, or 2026 (basic exclusion $13,610,000, $13,990,000, or $15,000,000). State estate taxes, generation-skipping tax, alternate or special-use valuation, QDOT rules, and credits for foreign death taxes or prior transfers are not modeled. Figures for 2027 deaths will change with inflation. This is an educational tool, not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Estate and Gift Tax Exemption for 2026: $15 Million and the Filing Threshold
The death tax is charged against everything a person leaves before heirs are paid. For deaths in 2026 the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000, set by Public Law 119-21, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the IRS now calls it the Working Families Tax Cuts law). Starting with 2027 deaths, it rises with inflation from a 2025 base year.
| Year of death | Sheltered amount | Credit that shelters it |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $13.61M | $5,389,800 |
| 2025 | $13.99M | $5,541,800 |
| 2026 | $15M | $5,945,800 |
Most people call it the exemption. It’s per person, so a couple can protect $30M if the survivor keeps the first spouse’s leftover share.
Filing follows a separate test. Form 706 is required when the gross value of everything owned, plus adjusted taxable gifts, tops the filing threshold for the year of death, the same $15 million. Someone who dies with $14M after $2M of reportable gifts must file even if nothing is owed.
Federal Estate Tax Rates: How the Unified Schedule Works
The schedule in section 2001(c) of the Internal Revenue Code runs from 18% to 40% and isn’t indexed. Gifts and bequests share it, so giving during life can’t sidestep taxation (K = thousand, M = million).
| Taxable amount over | Tax at that floor | Rate on the excess |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | 18% |
| $10K | $1,800 | 20% |
| $20K | $3,800 | 22% |
| $40K | $8,200 | 24% |
| $60K | $13K | 26% |
| $80K | $18,200 | 28% |
| $100K | $23,800 | 30% |
| $150K | $38,800 | 32% |
| $250K | $70,800 | 34% |
| $500K | $155,800 | 37% |
| $750K | $248,300 | 39% |
| $1M | $345,800 | 40% |
The tentative tax is figured on the whole taxable amount, then the unified credit (now officially the applicable credit) is subtracted. This year that credit is $5,945,800, exactly the schedule’s result on $15 million. Because it erases every bracket below 40%, each dollar over the line costs 40 cents, flat.
Some online tools run the graduated schedule on only the excess. On the default $3M excess that shortcut returns $1,145,800, understating the bill by $54,200. Our tax calculations follow the Form 706 lines instead, and we checked every bracket against the July revision of the Form 706 instructions.
What Goes Into the Gross Estate, and What Comes Out
The Internal Revenue Service’s list covers cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets. The fair market value of these items on the date of death counts, not what anyone paid. Often missed:
- Life insurance the person owned, even with a named beneficiary.
- Retirement accounts at full balance; heirs owe income tax on withdrawals later, which our inherited IRA RMD calculator covers.
- A deferred annuity, and every stock, bond, or other security in a brokerage account.
- A revocable living trust, because the owner kept control.
- Assets to be distributed later under a will.
Deductions include mortgages and other debts, estate administration expenses, property passing to a surviving spouse, and bequests to qualified charities. The marital deduction has no dollar cap for a U.S. citizen survivor; a noncitizen survivor needs a qualified domestic trust (QDOT). State estate or inheritance tax paid comes off on line 3b. A margin debt counts, as does each expense the executor pays.
Worked Example: $18 Million, Past Gifts, and One Bill
- Start with $18,000,000. Subtract $500,000 of debts and costs and a $500,000 charitable bequest: $17,000,000 taxable.
- Add $1,000,000 of lifetime taxable gifts. The base is $18,000,000.
- Apply the schedule: $345,800 plus 40% of $17,000,000, or $7,145,800.
- Subtract the $5,945,800 credit. The net amount due is $1,200,000.
That’s 6.67% of everything owned and 40% of the $3M over the line; heirs keep $15.8M. The gifts didn’t escape. The rule reaching back to gifts made in 1977 and later adds each one at its value on the day given, so giving above the annual amount only removes the growth after the gift. Gifts within the $19,000 annual per-person amount never enter the math.
Portability and the DSUE Amount for Married Couples
Portability lets a widow or widower add a late spouse’s unused federal shelter to their own. The carried amount is the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE: the lesser of the basic amount in force at the first death or whatever that first return left over. The executor must file a complete Form 706 on time, nine months after death or 15 with the extension. Skipping it because nothing is owed forfeits the shelter, though Rev. Proc. 2022-32 allows a late election until the fifth anniversary of death when no return was otherwise required.
Say a husband dies with $12M and leaves it all to his wife. The marital amount zeroes out his bill, his executor elects portability, and she receives a $15M DSUE. When she dies owning $28M, her shelter is $30M and nothing is due. Without the election she’d owe $5.2M at today’s figures, 40% of the $13M above her own $15M. Had he left $20M with $8M to her, he’d hand over $3M.
- Only the last deceased spouse counts; DSUE from two marriages can’t be stacked.
- The carried amount is fixed at the first death and doesn’t grow with inflation.
- A nonresident survivor who isn’t a citizen can’t use it, except by treaty.
State Estate Taxes on Top of the Federal Bill
Twelve states and the District of Columbia charge their own levy at death, each state’s threshold and rates set by its own law: Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Hawaii, and seven in the East (Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Maryland). Maryland also bills heirs, one of five states with inheritance taxes; our inheritance tax guide by state shows which relatives pay.
For state-specific numbers, the Illinois Attorney General publishes its own calculator for deaths from 2013 on. The federal and state bills interact: state tax paid is a deduction on Form 706, so each state dollar saves 40 cents federally once you’re over the line.
Estate Planning Moves That Lower the Bill
- Give within the annual amount. A couple with three children and six grandchildren can move $342,000 a year outside the base.
- Give an appreciating asset early. The gift is frozen at its value on the day given, and later growth is never counted.
- Hold a policy in an irrevocable trust. The payout can fund the bill without being counted.
- Use special-use valuation for a family farm or closely held trade or business, a reduction of up to $1,460,000 in value this year.
Tax planning also means projecting growth. A $10M portfolio earning 6% doubles in about 12 years, and the value of your estate is measured at death, including what those holdings generate until then. Our life expectancy calculator helps set a realistic horizon.
Filing the Estate Tax Return: Form 706 Deadlines and Who Signs
Form 706 is due nine months after the date of death, and Form 4768 grants an automatic six-month extension to file. The executor attaches the will, a death certificate, appraisals, and every Form 709 gift return, then signs. No living taxpayer owes this bill, so it’s paid before the executor can distribute anything.
Most financial calculators skip lifetime gifts and portability, so treat any result as an estimate. Consult a probate attorney and a CPA who handles transfer returns; good accounting advice on appraisals often pays for itself, and fee-only financial advisors can simplify how accounts are titled.
Start with a rough net worth, then run the estate tax calculator twice: as things stand and with your planned gifts, charity, and portability. Compare the potential estate tax liability and the room left under the line. If you’re within a few million of it, take both results to an attorney before your next will review, because tax laws and the indexed figure change.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can you inherit from your parents without owing tax?
Heirs don’t pay the federal levy; it falls on what the parent left. Each parent can pass $15M free of it, and a couple using portability can pass $30M.
Will the $15M figure adjust?
Yes. From 2027 it’s indexed, and the IRS publishes each new figure in an annual revenue procedure, usually in the fall.
Who has to file when nothing is owed?
Anyone over the threshold once gifts are added back, and any executor who wants the survivor to qualify for portability.
Last reviewed September 2026 against IRC 2001(c) and 2010(c) and the Form 706 instructions. Figures apply to this year’s deaths. Federal rules only. Educational, not tax, legal, or accounting advice.