Estate Tax Calculator
Federal estate tax at the 2026 $15 million exclusion and 40% top rate, with portability of a spouse's unused exclusion and the $19,000 annual gift exclusion.
Estate Tax Calculator: with the default inputs, federal estate tax is $1,900,000.
The exclusion is fixed at the date of death, not the date the return is filed.
Everything owned at death at fair market value: homes, investments, business interests, retirement accounts, and life insurance you owned.
Mortgages, loans, final medical bills, funeral costs, executor and legal fees.
Deductible without limit if the spouse is a US citizen. Non-citizen spouses need a QDOT.
Deductible without limit for qualifying charities.
Before any state estate or inheritance tax, which this does not cover.
- Taxable estate
- $19,750,000Gross estate less debts, expenses, and the marital and charitable deductions.
- Exclusion available
- $15,000,000Your own basic exclusion plus any ported spousal exclusion, less lifetime taxable gifts.
- Amount above the exclusion
- $4,750,000
- Effective rate on the gross estate
- 9.5%
- Left for heirs after tax
- $17,850,000Taxable estate less the federal tax. Bequests to a spouse or charity are already excluded.
- Tax-free gifting per year
- $0Annual exclusion × the number of recipients. Costs nothing against your lifetime exclusion.
Assumptions
- Federal estate tax only. State estate and inheritance taxes are excluded; the state lists quoted are the Tax Foundation's as of 1 October 2025 and should be re-checked for the year of death.
- Basic exclusion $15,000,000 for 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.14) and $13,990,000 for 2025 (Rev. Proc. 2024-40 §3.41); annual gift exclusion $19,000 per donee for both years.
- Unified rate schedule per IRC §2001(c), reproduced from Table A in the Form 706 instructions ($345,800 plus 40% above $1,000,000).
- Marital and charitable deductions are treated as unlimited, which assumes a US-citizen spouse (a non-citizen spouse needs a QDOT) and qualifying charities.
- No generation-skipping transfer tax, trusts, valuation discounts, special-use valuation, QTIP elections, deferred payment under §6166, or credit for foreign death taxes.
- Gross estate is assumed to be fair market value at the date of death; the alternate valuation date is not modelled.
- Debts & expenses$250,0001%
- Federal estate tax$1,900,00010%
- To heirs$17,850,00089%
| Gross estate | Taxable estate | Federal estate tax | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000,000 | $4,750,000 | $0 | 0% |
| $10,000,000 | $9,750,000 | $0 | 0% |
| $15,000,000 | $14,750,000 | $0 | 0% |
| $20,000,000 | $19,750,000 | $1,900,000 | 9.5% |
| $30,000,000 | $29,750,000 | $5,900,000 | 19.7% |
| $50,000,000 | $49,750,000 | $13,900,000 | 27.8% |
Holds your debts, bequests and exclusion constant and varies only the gross estate.
How this is worked out
The formula
Taxable estate = gross estate − debts & expenses − marital deduction − charitable deduction Tentative tax = unified rate schedule applied to (taxable estate + adjusted taxable gifts) Applicable credit = tentative tax on (basic exclusion + ported DSUE) Federal estate tax = max(0, tentative tax − applicable credit) Unified rate schedule (IRC §2001(c)): 18% on the first $10,000 rising in steps to $345,800 + 40% of everything above $1,000,000. Basic exclusion: $15,000,000 for 2026, $13,990,000 for 2025 Annual gift exclusion: $19,000 per recipient per year, for both 2025 and 2026 Because the exclusion is far above $1,000,000, the tax on any taxable estate is in practice 40% of the amount by which it exceeds the exclusion available.
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Year of death
- The exclusion is fixed at the date of death, not the date the return is filed.2026 — $15,000,000 exclusion · 2025 — $13,990,000 exclusion
- Gross estate
- Everything owned at death at fair market value: homes, investments, business interests, retirement accounts, and life insurance you owned.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 20000000
- Debts, funeral and administration expenses
- Mortgages, loans, final medical bills, funeral costs, executor and legal fees.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 250000
- Left to a surviving spouse
- Deductible without limit if the spouse is a US citizen. Non-citizen spouses need a QDOT.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Left to charity
- Deductible without limit for qualifying charities.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Lifetime taxable gifts already made(under More options)
- Adjusted taxable gifts — the amounts above the annual exclusion that used up your lifetime exemption. Not the total of everything you ever gave away.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Spouse's unused exclusion (DSUE)(under More options)
- Inherited from a predeceased spouse whose executor elected portability on a Form 706.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- People you gift to each year(under More options)
- Used only to show how much the annual exclusion lets you move out of the estate each year.from 0 to 1000 · whole numbers only · defaults to 0
What you get back
- Federal estate taxmain answer
- Before any state estate or inheritance tax, which this does not cover.
- Taxable estate
- Gross estate less debts, expenses, and the marital and charitable deductions.
- Exclusion available
- Your own basic exclusion plus any ported spousal exclusion, less lifetime taxable gifts.
- Amount above the exclusion
- Effective rate on the gross estate
- Left for heirs after tax
- Taxable estate less the federal tax. Bequests to a spouse or charity are already excluded.
- Tax-free gifting per year
- Annual exclusion × the number of recipients. Costs nothing against your lifetime exclusion.
What this assumes
- Federal estate tax only. State estate and inheritance taxes are excluded; the state lists quoted are the Tax Foundation's as of 1 October 2025 and should be re-checked for the year of death.
- Basic exclusion $15,000,000 for 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.14) and $13,990,000 for 2025 (Rev. Proc. 2024-40 §3.41); annual gift exclusion $19,000 per donee for both years.
- Unified rate schedule per IRC §2001(c), reproduced from Table A in the Form 706 instructions ($345,800 plus 40% above $1,000,000).
- Marital and charitable deductions are treated as unlimited, which assumes a US-citizen spouse (a non-citizen spouse needs a QDOT) and qualifying charities.
- No generation-skipping transfer tax, trusts, valuation discounts, special-use valuation, QTIP elections, deferred payment under §6166, or credit for foreign death taxes.
- Gross estate is assumed to be fair market value at the date of death; the alternate valuation date is not modelled.
About this calculator
Almost nobody pays federal estate tax. With a $15,000,000 exclusion per person in 2026 — $30,000,000 for a married couple who use portability properly — a fraction of one percent of estates file a taxable return. This calculator tells you which side of the line you are on, and if you are over it, what the bill looks like.
How the tax actually works
It is not a cliff on the whole estate. The IRS computes a tentative tax on everything you transfer, then subtracts a credit equal to the tax on your exclusion amount. Because the exclusion sits far above the point where the rate schedule flattens out at 40%, the arithmetic collapses to something simple: 40% of the amount above your exclusion. An estate $2 million over the line owes about $800,000.
Portability is the thing people get wrong
The exclusion belongs to each spouse individually. If the first spouse to die leaves everything to the survivor, the marital deduction wipes out the tax but also uses none of that spouse's exclusion — and it is lost unless the executor files a Form 706 electing to port the deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE) to the survivor. The election requires filing an estate tax return even when no tax is due. Rev. Proc. 2022-32 gives non-taxable estates until the fifth anniversary of the death to make a simplified late election, which has rescued a great many families, but relying on it is expensive. Enter the ported amount under More options to see it stack on top of your own exclusion.
Gifting
The annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient per year in 2026 — unchanged from 2025 — and it does not touch your lifetime exclusion. A couple can give $38,000 to each child, each child's spouse and each grandchild every year, indefinitely, without filing anything. Enter a number of recipients under More options to see the annual capacity. Gifts above that amount are taxable gifts: no tax is usually due, but they consume lifetime exclusion and get added back in the estate calculation, which is why the calculator asks for them.
Scope, honestly stated
This is the federal tax only. Twelve states and DC levy their own estate tax, and five states levy an inheritance tax charged to the recipient rather than the estate — Maryland does both. Several have exclusions far below the federal one, so an estate that owes nothing to the IRS can owe a great deal to Oregon, Massachusetts or Washington. Nothing here models trusts, valuation discounts for closely-held business interests, generation-skipping transfer tax, the special-use valuation of farmland, QTIP elections, non-citizen spouses (who need a QDOT for the marital deduction), or the step-up in basis that heirs receive. Estate planning at this size is a job for a lawyer; this page is for sizing the problem.
Frequently asked questions
▸What is the federal estate tax exemption in 2026?
$15,000,000 per person, set by the July 2025 tax law and confirmed in IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. It was $13,990,000 for 2025 and is indexed for inflation from 2027 onward. A married couple can shelter $30,000,000 if both exclusions are used or ported.
▸What is the estate tax rate?
The schedule runs from 18% to 40%, but because the exclusion is so far above the point where the top rate begins, every taxable estate in practice pays 40% on the amount over the exclusion.
▸What is portability and do I have to file for it?
Portability lets a surviving spouse add the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to their own. It is not automatic: the first estate must file a Form 706 to elect it, even if no tax is owed. Rev. Proc. 2022-32 allows a simplified late election up to five years after the death for estates that were not otherwise required to file.
▸How much can I give away tax-free each year?
$19,000 per recipient in 2026, unchanged from 2025. There is no limit on the number of recipients, spouses can each give the full amount, and none of it reduces your lifetime exclusion. Direct payments of someone's tuition or medical bills are unlimited and separate.
▸Does this include state estate tax?
No. This is federal only. Twelve states and DC have their own estate tax and five have an inheritance tax, some with thresholds as low as $1 million, so check your state separately.
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The questions people ask next to a estate tax.
Estimate 2026 or 2025 federal and state income tax from gross or taxable income and filing status — real brackets for all 50 states and DC, with sources.
Add up everything you own and everything you owe to get your net worth, home equity, liquid assets and debt-to-asset ratio, with the split charted.
Compare filing jointly against two single returns on the same combined income, to see whether marriage costs you a penalty or hands you a bonus.
Project savings at retirement, the inflation-adjusted income they can sustain, the shortfall vs. your spending goal, and the extra monthly saving to close it.
Project investment growth with monthly contributions, annual raises, fund expense ratios and inflation — with a yearly split of what you invested vs. earned.