Estate Tax Calculator

Two separate questions

Whether a return is due and whether tax is due are not the same thing. Form 706 must be filed when the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds the filing threshold for the year of death — 15,000,000 dollars for 2026 and 13,990,000 for 2025 — regardless of how much the deductions later reduce it. An estate can therefore owe nothing and still be required to file, which is also how the unused exemption gets transferred to a surviving spouse.

How the tax is actually computed

The rate schedule in section 2001(c) is graduated from 18% through to 40% above one million dollars, but the unified credit offsets the tax on everything up to the exemption. Because the exemption is far above where the brackets top out, every dollar above it is taxed at the flat 40% — which is why the number is usually quoted as a flat rate. This page runs the full schedule anyway rather than multiplying by 0.4, because the graduated table is what the law says and the two only agree while the exemption stays high.

The deductions that matter most

Anything passing to a surviving spouse who is a US citizen is deducted without limit, as is anything passing to a qualified charity. Between them these two deductions are why a large estate can produce no tax at the first death, and why the tax planning question is usually about the second death rather than the first.

Portability is not automatic

A surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused exclusion, which effectively doubles the exemption, but only if the first estate filed Form 706 and made the election. Missing that filing is one of the more expensive administrative errors in estate work, because an estate that owed nothing and saw no reason to file has quietly given up an exemption worth millions.

State taxes are a separate layer

Several states levy their own estate tax and a few levy an inheritance tax on the recipient rather than the estate. Their thresholds are typically an order of magnitude below the federal one, so an estate well clear of federal tax can still face a state bill. This page does not model any state, and the figures here are the federal computation only — an estate of any real size needs an attorney rather than a calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions