Updated October 7, 2026. Quick answer: Rhode Island’s estate tax exempts the first $1,838,056 of an estate for deaths in 2026, through an $87,940 credit. The Division of Taxation adjusts the credit each year by the consumer price index, and no 2027 amount appears in the documents read. The federal exclusion is $15,000,000 for 2026.
Rhode Island estate tax exemption: 2026 and 2027 at a glance
| Item | What the documents say |
|---|---|
| Exemption, 2026 deaths | $1,838,056 |
| How it is set | Works through an $87,940 credit that the Division adjusts each January 1 by CPI-U and converts to a threshold |
| 2027 figure | Not published: the 2026 amounts were issued on December 30, 2025, and no 2027 notice is in the documents read |
| Rates | 0.8 to 16.0 percent on the adjusted taxable estate, less the credit |
| Return and deadline | Form RI-706, due nine months after death |
| Federal basic exclusion amount, 2026 | $15,000,000 |
| Sources | Rhode Island Division of Taxation; Rhode Island General Assembly; IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 |
What changes in 2027
The Division of Taxation’s Advisory ADV 2025-27, dated December 30, 2025, announced the 2026 figures: a credit of $87,940, which exempts the first $1,838,056 of an estate for deaths on or after January 1, 2026. The statute adjusts the credit each January 1 by the percentage increase in the consumer price index, and the Division publishes the resulting credit and threshold.
Last year the Division issued the 2026 amounts on December 30, 2025. No 2027 notice appears in the documents read, and this page makes no estimate. The Division, not CMG, computes the credit: CMG checked the statute’s formula against Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data and could not reproduce the Division’s published chain to the dollar, so every Rhode Island figure here is the Division’s own.
How the Rhode Island estate tax works
Rhode Island does not apply a plain exemption. It runs the adjusted taxable estate through the graduated schedule below and then subtracts the credit from the result. Form RI-706 is due with payment within nine months following the date of death.
In the documents’ own words
- ADV 2025-27 Rhode Island estate tax credit and threshold set for 2026 (Rhode Island Division of Taxation): “exempting from taxation the first $1,838,056 of an estate”
- R.I. Gen. Laws 44-22-1.1 Tax on net estate of decedent (Rhode Island General Assembly): “a Rhode Island credit shall be allowed against any tax so determined in the amount of sixty-four thousand four hundred ($64,400)”
Rhode Island estate tax rates as the state prints them
Copied from the state’s own document: The Rhode Island Tax Computation Schedule printed on page 21 of Form RI-706; the form prints the last column in percent.
| Adjusted taxable estate over | But not over | Tax on the amount in column 1 | Percent on the excess |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 40,000 | 0 | 0 |
| 40,000 | 90,000 | 0 | 0.8 |
| 90,000 | 140,000 | 400 | 1.6 |
| 140,000 | 240,000 | 1,200 | 2.4 |
| 240,000 | 440,000 | 3,600 | 3.2 |
| 440,000 | 640,000 | 10,000 | 4.0 |
| 640,000 | 840,000 | 18,000 | 4.8 |
| 840,000 | 1,040,000 | 27,600 | 5.6 |
| 1,040,000 | 1,540,000 | 38,800 | 6.4 |
| 1,540,000 | 2,040,000 | 70,800 | 7.2 |
| 2,040,000 | 2,540,000 | 106,800 | 8.0 |
| 2,540,000 | 3,040,000 | 146,800 | 8.8 |
| 3,040,000 | 3,540,000 | 190,800 | 9.6 |
| 3,540,000 | 4,040,000 | 238,800 | 10.4 |
| 4,040,000 | 5,040,000 | 290,800 | 11.2 |
| 5,040,000 | 6,040,000 | 402,800 | 12.0 |
| 6,040,000 | 7,040,000 | 522,800 | 12.8 |
| 7,040,000 | 8,040,000 | 650,800 | 13.6 |
| 8,040,000 | 9,040,000 | 786,800 | 14.4 |
| 9,040,000 | 10,040,000 | 930,800 | 15.2 |
| 10,040,000 | and over | 1,082,800 | 16.0 |
How this compares with the federal exemption
Federal estate tax is separate. Revenue Procedure 2025-32 says the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, section 70106, increased the “basic exclusion amount to $15,000,000 for calendar year 2026”. CMG’s page on the federal exemption for 2027 is the federal estate tax exemption for 2027. The state figure on this page is not the federal one: it is the amount at which Rhode Island starts to tax an estate.
What the documents do not say
- The rate table is from a 2024 printing of Form RI-706; a 2026 edition of the form was not confirmed to carry the same table.
- Form RI-706 has a checkbox for a deceased spouse’s unused federal exclusion (“portability”); the documents read do not say whether Rhode Island allows a state-level portability.
- Senate bill S 2019, introduced January 9, 2026, would raise the exemption starting January 1, 2027 and end the tax on January 1, 2033. This page did not verify what became of it, and it changes none of the figures above.
Common mistakes
- Treating $1,838,056 as a deduction; Rhode Island figures the tax on the adjusted taxable estate and then subtracts the credit.
- Using last year’s figure after the Division publishes the new one.
Related: Rhode Island estate tax (2026), estate tax by state, the federal estate tax exemption for 2027, Rhode Island probate cost, and Rhode Island retirement taxes.
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Answer againSources
- ADV 2025-27 Rhode Island estate tax credit and threshold set for 2026: https://tax.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur541/files/2025-12/ADV_2025_27_Estate_Updates.pdf
- R.I. Gen. Laws 44-22-1.1 Tax on net estate of decedent: https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE44/44-22/44-22-1.1.htm
- Form RI-706 Estate Tax Return: https://tax.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur541/files/2024-02/RI-706_w.pdf
- Form RI-706 Instructions: https://tax.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur541/files/2021-12/ri-706_instructions.pdf
- 2026 S 2019 (Rhode Island Senate bill text): https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2019.pdf
- Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (Internal Revenue Service): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 7, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and an estate attorney, a tax preparer or the state agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.