Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Minnesota’s estate tax exclusion has been fixed at $3,000,000 since 2020 with no inflation indexing, and remains $3,000,000 for 2026 decedents. Rates run from 13% up to 16% on Minnesota taxable estate above $10,100,000, and as of September 2026 the state still has no spousal portability; the pending bills to add it remain stuck in committee.
2026 exemption: $3,000,000 · Top rate: 16% · Key statute: Minn. Stat. sec. 291.016 (exclusion/taxable estate); Minn. Stat. sec. 291.03 (rates and apportionment)
2026 exemption and rate reverification
Minn. Stat. sec. 291.016 sets the exclusion at $3,000,000 for decedents dying in 2020 and thereafter, with no amendment since 2017, so it applies unchanged to 2026 deaths. The 2025 Form M706 instructions, published January 2026 and the most current available, confirm the exclusion amount and tax filing threshold is $3,000,000 for 2025 decedents, with a maximum qualified small business and farm property deduction of $2,000,000.
Filing deadline and extensions
The Form M706 instructions state the regular due date for filing is nine months after the date of death, the same as the federal deadline. An automatic filing extension exists, extending to six months after the regular due date or the length of any federal extension granted, whichever is longer. Payment is not automatically extended; tax is still due nine months after death, though a written-request payment extension of up to six months is available for good cause.
Portability status confirmed still not enacted
The Minnesota Legislature’s own bill-tracking pages for the two pending portability bills show only introduction, committee referral, and author additions through March 2026, with no committee passage or floor action recorded. The current M706 instructions contain no portability computation anywhere in the line instructions or worksheets, corroborating that no portability provision is in force for 2026 decedents.
Fixed at $3,000,000 since 2020, with no portability to plan around.
The exclusion has not been indexed in six years, and the bills that would add spousal portability remain in committee. For a married couple that means each exclusion has to be used deliberately in the documents, because none of it carries over on its own.
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True marginal brackets, and non-resident apportionment by Minnesota-situs share
Minnesota's rate schedule is a genuine marginal-bracket system: 13.0% from $0 to $7,100,000, then $923,000 plus 13.6% of the amount over $7,100,000 up through $8,100,000, continuing up to $1,355,000 plus 16.0% of the amount over $10,100,000. Non-residents with Minnesota-situs property must file if the combined federal gross estate plus three-year gifts exceeds $3,000,000, and tax is apportioned using a fraction of the Minnesota gross estate over the federal gross estate.
The math on a $4,000,000 estate
Tax owed: $130,000. Subtract the $3,000,000 exclusion from $4,000,000 to get $1,000,000 subject to tax. That amount falls entirely within the first bracket, $0 to $7,100,000, taxed at a flat 13.0%. $1,000,000 times 13.0% equals $130,000 owed.
Honest gaps
No 2026-decedent-year Form M706 instructions exist yet, so the 2026 figures rest on the unchanged statute text plus the 2025 instructions rather than a 2026-labeled Department of Revenue document. The claim that the 2026 omnibus tax bill left the estate tax untouched relies on a secondary summary rather than the bill's full text.
Source note. Read from https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/291.016; https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/2026-01/m706-inst-25.pdf; https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/94/2025/0/SF/30/ on 2026-09-04.
Related: estate tax by state · who actually pays the estate tax · the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.
Statutory text read at each state's own department of revenue or legislature. General information, not legal or tax advice; exemptions, rates and filing rules change, and a qualified estate or tax professional should confirm the current figures before you rely on them.