Two taxes, two thresholds, and only one of them is famous
What is hardcoded here, and what is not
Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): The federal exemption is indexed annually, so it is a field on this page rather than a number baked in; the 40 percent top rate is statutory (IRC 2001(c)) and is built in. The result most people are not expecting is zero federal tax alongside a real state bill, because state exemptions are much lower.
Estate tax calculator
The federal exemption is indexed for inflation every year, so it is a field here rather than a
number baked into the page. Take the current figure from the IRS, and take your state’s exemption and
rate from estate tax by state.
An estate this size is usually a planning problem, not a tax problem.
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Two taxes, two thresholds, and only one of them is famous
The federal exemption is large enough that very few estates pay federal estate tax at all. State
exemptions are frequently a fraction of it, and a dozen-odd states levy their own estate tax. The
common outcome for a well-off household is zero federal tax and a real state bill
— which is exactly the case a calculator that only models the federal side will tell you does
not exist.
Figure 1. The sentence at the top of this page — zero federal tax alongside a real state bill — is the shaded band, and it is $10m wide. Below $5m neither of the two lines drawn here has started, though other states begin far lower — Oregon's threshold is $1,000,000. Between there and the federal exclusion the federal line never leaves zero while the state line climbs the whole way, so at an estate of exactly $15,000,000 the federal bill is $0 and Vermont's is $1,600,000. Only above $21,670,000 is the federal bill the larger of the two, because forty percent of a late-starting excess takes that long to overtake sixteen percent of an early-starting one. Vermont is the state drawn here for a reason, and it is a limit on the figure. 32 V.S.A. 7442a charges a flat sixteen percent of the excess over $5m, which is exactly the arithmetic the state fields above perform; a state with graduated rates cannot be drawn as one straight line, and figure 2 shows what happens when a state's mechanic is different in kind. Vermont's tax is also assessed on the Vermont taxable estate and then apportioned by the share of the estate with a Vermont situs, so this line is an estate wholly in one state. The federal line is the full statutory computation, not a shortcut: the 2001(c) schedule less the $5,945,800 credit that 2010(c)(3)(A)'s $15,000,000 exclusion produces comes to forty percent of the excess exactly, which is why one line can carry it.
What is hardcoded here, and what is not
The 40 percent rate is set in statute. IRC 2001(c) provides for tax of “$345,800, plus 40
percent of the excess of such amount over $1,000,000”, and that top rate has not moved since
2013, so it is built in and cited.
The basic exclusion amount is not. It is defined in IRC 2010(c)(3) and indexed
for inflation, which means it changes every January. Any estate calculator with the exemption baked
into it is wrong within a year of being written. That is why it is a field on this page, and why the
page tells you to go and get the current figure rather than trusting a number a website typed once.
Portability is not automatic
A surviving spouse can add the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to their own, which is what the
ported-exemption field captures. It is not automatic: it requires a timely filed estate tax return
for the first spouse, even when no tax is due. Families miss this and then discover years later that
the exclusion they assumed they had was never elected.
Lifetime gifts come out of the same allowance
The estate and gift taxes share a single unified credit. Large lifetime gifts consume exemption
that is then unavailable at death, which is what the gifts field subtracts. Annual-exclusion gifts do
not count against it.
The state mechanic this does not model
Some states operate a cliff: cross the threshold and the whole estate is taxed,
not just the excess. This calculator applies the rate to the excess only, which understates the
result in a cliff state near the threshold. Check the mechanic for your state on
estate tax by state before relying on the number, and see the
probate cost calculator for what the process itself takes.
Figure 2. The section above says this calculator understates the result in a cliff state near the threshold. This is how much. New York exempts an estate up to $7,350,000 in 2026, and N.Y. Tax Law 952(c) then withdraws that exemption across the next five percent of it: the credit is computed as though the estate were the exclusion multiplied by one minus its own progress through the band, so by $7,717,500 there is no credit left and the tax is charged on the whole taxable estate from the first dollar. The tax goes from $0 to $734,780 across $367,500 of estate value — a marginal rate of just under two hundred percent, which means an estate $367,500 larger hands the family $367,280 less. Enter New York's exclusion and its top rate into the fields above and this page returns $58,800 for that estate, $675,980 short, because it applies the rate to the excess and no state field can express a credit that withdraws itself. Two precisions worth having. The band is a ramp rather than a step — the tax rises steeply but continuously across it, and it is above the band, not at the exclusion, that the whole estate becomes taxable. And New York taxes the New York taxable estate, which is the federal gross estate plus certain gifts made within three years of death, not the unadjusted figure the first field above asks for. The engine behind this line is held to the state's own arithmetic: the Department of Taxation and Finance publishes a worked example of this phase-out — a $7,354,036 estate against the $7,160,000 exclusion that applied in 2025 — and the line does not get drawn unless the engine reproduces its $208,011 credit to the dollar.
The 40 percent top rate is quoted from 26 U.S.C. 2001(c), read on 2026-07-30.
The basic exclusion amount is defined in 26 U.S.C. 2010(c)(3) and is inflation-indexed, so it is a USER INPUT here and never a hardcoded constant.
State exemptions and rates are inputs, sourced from the state hub this page extends.
Applies the rate to the excess over the threshold. Some states operate a cliff that taxes the whole estate once the threshold is crossed; this understates those.
Ignores marital and charitable deductions, administration expenses, and prior gift tax paid.
Educational estimate, not legal or tax advice. Estate planning is state-specific and time-sensitive; confirm with an estate attorney.
