Estate Tax Calculator

Enter your gross estate and your situation. You'll see which side of the $15 million line you are on, the 40% tax on anything above it, what the Form 706 portability election is worth to a couple, and how far annual gifting moves the needle.

Data reviewed: July 2026. Figures here come from published sources and change over time. How we verify

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The 2026 picture, including the sunset that did not happen

If you did any estate planning reading between 2018 and 2024, you were told to brace for 2026: the exemption was scheduled to fall by roughly half when the 2017 tax law expired. That cliff was repealed. The 2025 tax law (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) instead raised the federal estate and gift exemption to $15 million per person for deaths in 2026, indexed for inflation after that, with the top rate still 40%. Plenty of articles and even some professional advice still describe the old sunset; if your plan was built around it, it is worth a fresh look in the other direction.

The mechanics in one breath: everything you own at death (the house, the retirement accounts, the business, and, to most people's surprise, life insurance you own on your own life) is your gross estate. Subtract what passes to a spouse or charity, apply the exemption to the rest, and 40% applies to whatever clears the line. The rate table is graduated on paper, but the exemption's credit fully absorbs the lower brackets, so in practice every exposed dollar loses 40 cents.

The formula

Federal estate tax = 40% × max(0, Estate − (Exemption − Lifetime taxable gifts))
Exemption 2026: $15,000,000 per person    Annual gift exclusion: $19,000 per recipient

Estate and gift tax share one unified exemption: large lifetime gifts spend it in advance. Annual-exclusion gifts of $19,000 per recipient (from each spouse) spend none of it and require no paperwork at all.

Worked example

A couple's combined estate is $18 million. Together they hold $30 million of exemption, so the federal estate tax is $0, with $12 million of headroom.

Now the part that pays for the visit: that $30 million assumes portability was elected. If the first spouse dies and the executor never files Form 706 (easy to skip, since no tax is due), the survivor eventually faces the full $18 million with only $15 million of shelter: $3 million exposed, and $1,200,000 of tax. For this couple, a form filed in a sad season is worth one point two million dollars, and a simplified late election (Rev. Proc. 2022-32) stays open for five years if it was missed.

What still matters under a $15 million line

At this exemption level, most families' federal estate tax is zero, and the honest work moves elsewhere. State lines are lower: a dozen or so states levy their own estate or inheritance taxes, some with thresholds near $1 million, where a house plus a retirement account plus a life insurance policy gets there faster than people expect. Income tax has quietly become the bigger estate issue: inherited assets get a stepped-up basis (which argues against giving away low-basis stock too early), while inherited retirement accounts carry income tax on a 10-year clock; our inherited IRA RMD calculator prices that one. And life insurance remains the classic self-inflicted estate inclusion: owned by you, it is counted; owned by a properly built trust, it is not.

For estates genuinely above the line, the levers are old and effective: annual-exclusion gifting (quantified above, and it compounds well across many recipients and years), direct payment of tuition and medical bills (unlimited, exempt, and chronically underused), charitable bequests, and the trust architectures that deserve a professional rather than a web page. This calculator's job is the honest first pass: which side of the line you are on, what the distance is, and which single piece of paper matters most.

Frequently asked questions

What is the federal estate tax exemption for 2026?

$15 million per person for deaths in 2026, or $30 million for a married couple using portability, with amounts above the line taxed at an effective 40%. The 2025 tax law set this level and indexed it for inflation going forward.

Did the estate tax exemption sunset in 2026?

No. The long-scheduled drop to roughly half the prior exemption was repealed before it happened; the 2025 tax law raised the exemption to $15 million instead. Plenty of older articles still describe the sunset, and plans built around it deserve a fresh look.

What counts as part of my gross estate?

Essentially everything you own or control at death: home equity, retirement accounts, investments, business interests, and, to most people's surprise, life insurance you own on your own life. The death benefit being income-tax-free to your heirs does not keep it out of the estate tax calculation.

What is portability and why does it need a form?

A surviving spouse can inherit the deceased spouse's unused exemption, but only if the executor files Form 706 after the first death, even though no tax is due then. Skipping it can cost a couple millions later; in this page's example the form is worth $1.2 million. A simplified late election is available up to five years after death under Rev. Proc. 2022-32.

How much can I gift each year without any tax or paperwork?

$19,000 per recipient in 2026, from each giver, so a married couple can move $38,000 per recipient per year. These annual-exclusion gifts use none of your lifetime exemption. Direct payments of tuition and medical bills on top of that are unlimited and exempt, and chronically underused.

Do lifetime gifts reduce my estate tax exemption?

Gifts beyond the annual exclusion do: estate and gift tax share one unified exemption, so a $5 million lifetime gift leaves $10 million of shelter at death. That is not a reason to avoid large gifts, since future growth on the gifted assets escapes the estate too, but it is why the calculator asks.

Do states have their own estate taxes?

About a dozen states and DC levy estate or inheritance taxes with far lower thresholds than the federal line, some near $1 million, and a few tax the heirs rather than the estate. An estate that is comfortably clear federally can still owe six figures at the state level, so check your state before relaxing.

Is the estate tax the same as probate?

No. Probate is the court process of settling an estate and applies at any size; the estate tax is a levy on estates above the exemption. Being under the tax line does not spare your family the paperwork, which is why titling, beneficiary designations, and a will or trust matter regardless of wealth.

What is a step-up in basis?

Inherited assets reset their cost basis to the value at death, erasing the capital gain that accrued during the owner's life. It is the reason holding low-basis stock until death often beats gifting it early, and it has quietly made income tax planning, not estate tax, the main event for most families.

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