Estate Tax Calculator

Federally, a great deal — the exemption is in the eight-figure range per person and portable between spouses, so most estates owe nothing. But a dozen-plus states impose their own estate or inheritance tax at thresholds as low as $1–2 million, which catches far more families.

40% on the amount above the exemption. It is a flat top rate applied to the excess, not the whole estate — an estate a million dollars over the exemption owes roughly $400,000, not 40% of everything. Only the portion above the exemption is taxed.

Anything left to a US-citizen spouse passes free of estate tax, without limit. It defers the tax rather than eliminating it — the assets are taxed in the surviving spouse's estate later — but combined with exemption portability, it lets a couple pass roughly double the individual exemption tax-free.

Around a dozen states plus DC levy an estate tax, and a handful impose an inheritance tax paid by the recipient. Thresholds and rates vary widely, and some are far below the federal exemption. Because this is where most estate tax is actually owed, your state rules matter more than the federal ones for typical estates.

Through the marital deduction, annual and lifetime gifting that moves assets out of the estate, irrevocable trusts, charitable bequests, and life insurance held in a trust so it is not counted. These are the province of an estate attorney — the potential savings on a taxable estate far exceed the planning cost.

It has changed repeatedly with legislation and is indexed for inflation, so the figure moves. This calculator takes the exemption as an input for that reason — enter the current amount rather than assuming, since a large change can flip an estate from taxable to exempt or back.