What this calculator works out
This calculator estimates US federal estate tax for deaths in calendar year 2026, the tax charged on an estate's value before it passes to heirs, not a tax the heirs pay out of their own pocket. Enter what the estate owns, what it owes, what goes to a surviving spouse and what goes to charity, and it works out a taxable estate, compares it against the 2026 federal exemption, and applies the published rate schedule to whatever sits above that line. It uses 2026 figures only, from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the estate and gift tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed 4 July 2025, which made the higher exemption permanent rather than letting it fall back at the end of 2025 as the previous law required.
Does this even apply to you?
For almost everyone, the honest answer is no. The federal exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000 per person, and a married couple can typically shelter double that between them. Because the exemption sits this high, Tax Policy Center estimates put the share of estates that end up owing any federal estate tax at roughly 0.1% to 0.2% in recent years, a figure that has fallen every time Congress has raised the exemption since 2001. This calculator says so plainly rather than dressing up a $0 result as something dramatic: if your taxable estate lands under $15,000,000, there is no federal estate tax to pay, and the page states that in plain words, not just a zero.
How the federal estate tax actually works
Four steps get you from what someone owned to what, if anything, is owed. First, add up the gross estate: real estate, investments, cash, business interests, life insurance the deceased owned or that pays to the estate, and anything else of value, all at fair market value on the date of death. Second, subtract debts and funeral or estate administration costs. Third, subtract two uncapped deductions where they apply: the marital deduction for assets left to a surviving US citizen spouse, and bequests to qualifying charities. What is left is the taxable estate. Fourth, compare it with the year's federal exemption; only the amount above that line is ever taxed.
That flat 40% is not a simplification, it is how the maths resolves. The real schedule, IRC section 2001(c), starts at 18% on the first $10,000 and climbs in steps to a flat 40% over $1,000,000. The tax due is the schedule applied to the taxable estate, less the schedule applied again to an amount equal to the exemption, cancelling out every bracket the exemption already covers. Since the exemption is $15,000,000, miles above the $1,000,000 point where the schedule tops out, all eleven lower brackets are absorbed before a taxable estate ever gets there, leaving a flat 40% of whatever sits above the exemption; the worked table above shows this on your own numbers, with only the top bracket ever carrying a non-zero row.
The unlimited marital deduction
Under IRC section 2056, anything left outright to a surviving US citizen spouse is fully deductible from the gross estate, with no dollar cap: a $500,000 estate and a $50,000,000 estate can both pass entirely to a citizen spouse tax-free at the first death. Be precise about what this does, though: it defers estate tax rather than cancelling it. Assets that pass to the spouse join their own estate, and tax can become due at their later death if that estate is then large enough. "Everything to my spouse" above clears the taxable estate to $0 correctly, which is not the same as making the wealth disappear from the tax system forever. One limit: this only applies to a US citizen spouse; a non-citizen spouse needs a Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) under IRC section 2056A instead, a structure too specialist to model here.
Portability: passing on an unused exemption
When a married person dies without using their whole exemption, current law lets the leftover amount, the deceased spousal unused exclusion or DSUE, transfer to the surviving spouse. This "portability" gives a couple use of both exemptions across two deaths, even though only one estate is taxed at a time. It is not automatic: the first spouse's estate must file federal Form 706 and elect it within the normal filing window, nine months after death and extendable by six, or within a longer relief window for estates that would not otherwise need to file. Skip the election and the unused exemption is lost. This calculator does not model a second exemption from a prior spouse; it measures only the exemption available today.
Gift tax uses the same exemption
Estate tax and gift tax share one "unified" lifetime exclusion, the same $15,000,000 for 2026, so lifetime giving and a taxable estate draw from the same pool. Large lifetime gifts, above the annual exclusion, use up part of that $15,000,000 while the giver is alive, leaving less for the estate later. Separately, the 2026 annual gift exclusion lets anyone give up to $19,000 to as many recipients as they like each year with no return required and no effect on the lifetime exclusion; only gifts above that figure per recipient draw it down. This calculator does not track lifetime gifts, only the estate as it stands at death.
State estate and inheritance taxes are separate
Everything above is federal tax only. Twelve states and Washington, D.C. charge their own estate tax, and a handful of others charge an inheritance tax instead, both usually at exemption levels far below the federal one, commonly $1,000,000 to $7,000,000. An estate that owes nothing federally can still owe state tax, depending on where the deceased (or, for an inheritance tax, sometimes the heir) lived. Because state rules differ and change on their own schedule, a genuinely accurate state figure needs a calculator or adviser built for that specific state.
What else this calculator leaves out
The federal generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax, charged on top of estate tax when assets skip a generation, for instance passing straight to grandchildren, is not modelled here. Valuation discounts for a minority business stake, trusts that move assets outside the taxable estate, and life insurance ownership structures that keep a payout outside the estate are all real estate-planning tools this calculator deliberately does not reproduce, since each depends on documents a simple form cannot capture. This tool estimates a federal liability from figures you enter; it is not tax or legal advice, and a real estate near or above the exemption should involve a qualified professional.
Choosing your inputs
Value every asset at fair market value on the date of death, not its purchase price or an old insured value. Real estate and business interests are usually worth getting professionally appraised for a real filing. Life insurance only belongs here if the deceased owned the policy or it pays to the estate itself; a policy owned by an irrevocable trust, or paid straight to a named beneficiary, is usually kept outside the taxable estate on purpose and should be left out. Debts cover anything genuinely owed at death; funeral and administration costs cover burial or cremation and the reasonable cost of settling the estate, including legal and executor fees.
Reading your results
The headline sits above everything else, alongside the taxable estate and the year's exemption side by side, so the gap between them is visible immediately. The donut chart shows where the gross estate comes from, and the band chart plots the taxable estate against the exemption line, green below it, red above. The bracket table applies the real schedule to your own numbers; because the exemption already absorbs every bracket below the top one, it will normally show tax in only the last row, the point the explanation above it makes.
Questions people ask
Do most people have to worry about federal estate tax?
No. With the exemption at $15,000,000 for 2026, Tax Policy Center estimates put the share of estates that end up owing any federal estate tax at roughly 0.1% to 0.2%. Unless an estate is worth several million dollars after debts and other deductions, federal estate tax simply does not apply.
What is the 2026 federal estate tax exemption?
$15,000,000 per person, set by IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 following the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made this higher exemption permanent and indexed it for inflation from 2026 onward. A married couple can typically use both spouses' exemptions between them, commonly through portability.
Does everything I leave my spouse avoid estate tax completely?
It avoids tax at the first death, in full and with no dollar limit, as long as the spouse is a US citizen. It is a deferral rather than an exemption, though: assets that pass to the surviving spouse join their own estate, and tax can become due at their later death if that combined estate is large enough by then.
What is portability, and do I need to do anything to get it?
Portability lets a surviving spouse add a deceased spouse's unused exemption to their own. It is not automatic: the first spouse's estate must file federal Form 706 and elect portability, normally within nine months of death (extendable by six), or within a longer relief window for estates that would not otherwise need to file. Missing the election loses the unused exemption for good.
Do I need to worry about state estate or inheritance tax too?
Possibly, separately from anything shown here. Twelve states and Washington, D.C. charge their own estate tax, and a handful of others charge an inheritance tax instead, generally at exemption levels well below the federal $15,000,000, so a state tax bill is possible even where no federal tax is owed. This calculator covers federal tax only.
Can I avoid estate tax by giving money away before I die?
Only up to a point. Estate tax and gift tax share one lifetime exclusion, so large lifetime gifts use up the same $15,000,000 that would otherwise apply against the estate. Separately, the 2026 annual exclusion lets anyone give up to $19,000 to as many people as they like each year without touching that lifetime figure at all.
What doesn't this calculator cover?
State estate and inheritance tax, the federal generation-skipping transfer tax, valuation discounts, trusts, non-citizen-spouse QDOT rules, and any lifetime gifting history are all left out. This tool estimates a federal liability from the figures entered; it is not tax or legal advice, and a real estate near or above the exemption should involve a qualified professional.
This calculator estimates US federal estate tax liability for deaths in calendar year 2026 from figures you enter. It excludes state estate and inheritance tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, valuation discounts, trusts and non-citizen-spouse rules, and it is not tax or legal advice; a qualified estate planning attorney or tax professional should be involved for any real estate near or above the exemption.