Estimate federal and state estate tax for 2026 using the $15,000,000 federal exemption made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Covers portability, every state that levies an estate or inheritance tax, and the three places where the arithmetic stops being simple.
Adjust the inputs and the estimate updates as you type. Nothing is submitted or stored — the calculation runs entirely in your browser.
All assets at fair market value, including retirement accounts, life insurance you own, and assets held in a revocable trust.
Determines which state estate or inheritance tax applies.
State estate taxes reach in-state real and tangible property even for nonresidents. Only states that levy a tax are listed.
Washington’s exclusion and top rate both change on July 1, 2026, so the date of death changes the result there.
Gifts above the annual exclusion that used up unified exemption. The $19,000 per-recipient annual exclusion for 2026 does not count here.
Deducted in full under the unlimited marital deduction, unless the spouse is not a U.S. citizen.
Deducted in full under the unlimited charitable deduction.
A revocable trust avoids probate but does not remove assets from the taxable estate.
$4,080,000
About 22.7% of the gross estate of $18M.
Because the estate exceeds 105% of New York's exemption (about $7,717,500 for 2026), New York taxes the entire estate rather than only the amount above the exemption. Just past the cliff the marginal cost of an additional dollar is extreme. This is a well-known planning trap and a situation where professional advice matters most.
Set permanently at $15,000,000 by OBBBA §70411 and confirmed in Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Indexed for inflation beginning in 2027.
Exemption $7,350,000. Estate exceeds 105% of the exemption, so New York taxes the entire estate, not just the excess.
New York applies a cliff: once the estate exceeds 105% of the exemption (about $7,717,500 for 2026), the entire estate is taxed, not just the excess. Gifts within 3 years are added back and there is no portability. Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Estate tax is charged on the transfer of property at death. The federal government taxes the estate itself, and a small number of states add a tax of their own — either an estate tax on the estate, or an inheritance tax paid by each heir based on how they were related to the person who died. Most people will never owe federal estate tax. The federal exemption for deaths in 2026 is $15,000,000 per person, and fewer than 0.1% of estates pay anything at all.
State thresholds are a different matter. Oregon taxes estates above $1,000,000 and Massachusetts above $2,000,000 — levels an ordinary home, a retirement account, and a life insurance policy can reach together. For most households that are exposed to any death tax, the exposure is at the state level, which is why the calculator above asks where you live and where you own property before it asks anything else.
Every asset at fair market value: real property, investments, business interests, retirement accounts, and life insurance you owned. Assets in a revocable living trust are included here, even though they will avoid probate.
Amounts passing outright to a surviving U.S.-citizen spouse are deducted in full under the unlimited marital deduction. Amounts passing to qualified charities are deducted in full as well. Debts and administration expenses also reduce the estate.
The 2026 basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000. Lifetime taxable gifts you already made reduce it dollar for dollar, because the gift and estate exemptions are unified. If a prior spouse's unused exclusion was ported to you on a timely Form 706, it is added on top.
The rate schedule runs from 18% to 40%, but the exemption is applied as a credit — $5,945,800 for 2026, exactly the tax on $15,000,000 — which absorbs every lower bracket. The practical result is a flat 40% on everything above the exemption.
Twelve states plus the District of Columbia levy an estate tax. Exemptions run from $1,000,000 in Oregon to $15,000,000 in Connecticut, which tracks the federal figure.
| State | 2026 exemption | Top rate | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | $15,000,000 | 12% | Tracks the federal exemption since 2023. Connecticut is the only state with its own gift tax, and combined estate-and-gift liability is capped at $15,000,000. |
| Hawaii | $5,490,000 | 20% | The exclusion is reduced by federal adjusted taxable gifts. Portable between spouses via Form M-6. |
| Illinois | $4,000,000 | 16% | Illinois uses a credit-offset method that spikes the effective rate just above the $4,000,000 threshold. The exemption is flat and is not indexed for inflation. |
| Maine | $7,160,000 | 12% | Inflation-indexed; up from $7,000,000 in 2025. Graduated 8% / 10% / 12% on the amount above the exemption. |
| Maryland | $5,000,000 | 16% | Flat $5,000,000 exemption since 2019. Maryland is the only state with both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. Portable via Form MET-1. |
| Massachusetts | $2,000,000 | 16% | Massachusetts computes tax on the full estate and then applies a $99,600 credit, rather than exempting the first $2,000,000 outright. |
| Minnesota | $3,000,000 | 16% | Flat $3,000,000 exemption plus a qualified farm or small-business subtraction of up to $2,000,000. Gifts made within 3 years of death are added back. |
| New York | $7,350,000 | 16% | New York applies a cliff: once the estate exceeds 105% of the exemption (about $7,717,500 for 2026), the entire estate is taxed, not just the excess. Gifts within 3 years are added back and there is no portability. |
| Oregon | $1,000,000 | 16% | The lowest exemption in the nation, flat at $1,000,000 since 2012. |
| Rhode Island | $1,838,056 | 16% | CPI-U indexed; up from $1,802,431 in 2025. Implemented as an $87,940 credit. |
| Vermont | $5,000,000 | 16% | Flat 16% on the amount above a flat $5,000,000 exemption. Gifts made within 2 years of death are added back. |
| Washington | $3.08M / $3.00M | 35% / 20% | Washington's treatment changes mid-2026. The exemption is not portable between spouses and is effectively frozen because it references a defunct Seattle-area CPI. |
| District of Columbia | $4,988,400 | 16% | Inflation-indexed; up from $4,873,200 in 2025. |
Five states levy an inheritance tax, which is paid by the person who inherits rather than by the estate, and the rate depends on the relationship. Close family is usually exempt; distant relatives and unrelated beneficiaries pay the most. Maryland is the only state with both taxes. Iowa repealed its inheritance tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2025.
Class A heirs (spouse, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, half-sibling) are fully exempt. Class B rates run 4%–16% with the first $1,000 exempt; Class C rates run 6%–16% with the first $500 exempt.
Spouse, children and other lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, a child's spouse, and full siblings are exempt. Everyone else pays a flat 10% with the first $1,000 per person exempt.
Spouses are fully exempt, as is any beneficiary under age 22. Immediate relatives pay 1% above a $100,000 exemption, remote relatives 11% above $40,000, and all others 15% above $25,000.
Class A (spouse, domestic partner, parents, children, grandchildren, stepchildren) is exempt. Class C (siblings, children-in-law) pays 11%–16% after a $25,000 exemption. Class D pays 15%–16% with no exemption.
Spouses, charities, and transfers from a parent to a child aged 21 or under are exempt. Lineal heirs pay 4.5%, siblings 12%, and everyone else 15%. There is no general dollar exemption.
For deaths from January 1 through June 30, 2026, Washington applies a $3,076,000 exclusion and a 35% top rate — the highest in the country. For deaths on or after July 1, 2026, ESB 6347 resets the exclusion to $3,000,000 and drops the top rate to 20%. The same estate produces a materially different bill on either side of that date, so the calculator branches on the date of death rather than using one set of figures.
New York's exemption is $7,350,000, but it phases out. Once the estate exceeds 105% of that — about $7,717,500 — New York taxes the entire estate rather than only the excess. An estate a dollar over the cliff can owe more than twenty times what an estate a dollar under owes. The calculator implements this as real branching logic and warns you when you are inside or above the band.
Illinois computes tax from the pre-2005 federal state death tax credit table rather than as a flat rate on the excess, with a cap so the tax never exceeds the amount over $4,000,000. In roughly the first $280,000 above the threshold, the estate keeps almost none of the excess before the effective rate decays. The calculator models the mechanism rather than approximating it.
How the exemption works, what portability requires, and where the state rules get complicated.
An estimate tells you where you stand. A will, a trust structure, and current beneficiary designations are what change the outcome. Legacy Suite helps you organize the documents and the records your executor will need.
Legacy Suite is not a law firm and does not provide legal or tax advice.