Updated October 7, 2026. Quick answer: New York’s basic estate tax exclusion is $7,350,000 for deaths in 2026, up from $7,160,000 in 2025. The Tax Department lists a new amount for each year of death and none for 2027 yet. The federal exclusion is $15,000,000 for 2026.
New York estate tax exemption: 2026 and 2027 at a glance
| Item | What the documents say |
|---|---|
| Exemption, 2026 deaths | $7,350,000 |
| How it is set | A new amount is listed for each year of death; the pages read state no formula |
| 2027 figure | Not published: the Tax Department lists amounts only through 2026 |
| Rates | 3.06% rising to 16.0% |
| Return and deadline | Form ET-706, due nine months after death |
| Federal basic exclusion amount, 2026 | $15,000,000 |
| Sources | New York State Department of Taxation and Finance; IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 |
What changes in 2027
The Tax Department’s estate tax page lists the basic exclusion amount for each year of death: $7,350,000 for 2026 and $7,160,000 for 2025. Its notice for 2026 announces the new figure, and no amount for 2027 appears in the documents read.
The pages read list one amount per year but state no formula and no release date, so this page makes no estimate for 2027. The Tax Department’s list of recent years:
| Year of death | Basic exclusion amount |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $7,350,000 |
| 2025 | $7,160,000 |
| 2024 | $6,940,000 |
| 2023 | $6,580,000 |
| 2022 | $6,110,000 |
| 2021 | $5,930,000 |
| 2020 | $5,850,000 |
| 2019 | $5,740,000 |
How the New York estate tax works
New York’s exclusion has a cliff. In the applicable-credit worksheet of the 2025 return instructions, the credit is zero once the taxable estate passes a set margin above the exclusion ($7,518,000 on the 2025 worksheet), so above that point the tax table applies to the whole taxable estate. The instructions also state that New York does not follow the federal portability rule, and the estate must pay the tax and file within nine months of the death.
In the documents’ own words
- Estate tax (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance estate tax page): “through December 31, 2026 is $7,350,000”
- ET-706-I Instructions for Form ET-706, New York State Estate Tax Return (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance): “taxable estate is more than $7,518,000, enter 0”
- ET-706-I Instructions for Form ET-706, New York State Estate Tax Return (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance): “Estate Tax Law does not conform with the federal portability rule”
New York estate tax rates as the state prints them
Copied from the state’s own document: The tax table printed on Form ET-706 (9/25) for an estate of an individual who died on or after January 1, 2025.
| Over | Up to | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $500,000 | 3.06% of taxable estate |
| $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $15,300 plus 5.0% of the excess over $500,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $1,500,000 | $40,300 plus 5.5% of the excess over $1,000,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $2,100,000 | $67,800 plus 6.5% of the excess over $1,500,000 |
| $2,100,000 | $2,600,000 | $106,800 plus 8.0% of the excess over $2,100,000 |
| $2,600,000 | $3,100,000 | $146,800 plus 8.8% of the excess over $2,600,000 |
| $3,100,000 | $3,600,000 | $190,800 plus 9.6% of the excess over $3,100,000 |
| $3,600,000 | $4,100,000 | $238,800 plus 10.4% of the excess over $3,600,000 |
| $4,100,000 | $5,100,000 | $290,800 plus 11.2% of the excess over $4,100,000 |
| $5,100,000 | $6,100,000 | $402,800 plus 12.0% of the excess over $5,100,000 |
| $6,100,000 | $7,100,000 | $522,800 plus 12.8% of the excess over $6,100,000 |
| $7,100,000 | $8,100,000 | $650,800 plus 13.6% of the excess over $7,100,000 |
| $8,100,000 | $9,100,000 | $786,800 plus 14.4% of the excess over $8,100,000 |
| $9,100,000 | $10,100,000 | $930,800 plus 15.2% of the excess over $9,100,000 |
| $10,100,000 | and over | $1,082,800 plus 16.0% of the excess over $10,100,000 |
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 New York starts to tax an estate.
What the documents do not say
- The Tax Law section that sets the exclusion could not be read when this page was built, so how the annual amount is chosen is not stated here.
- The rate table shown is the one printed on the 2025 Form ET-706; no separate 2026 form was found.
Common mistakes
- Reading the exclusion as a simple deduction; New York’s cliff removes the credit once an estate passes the exclusion by a margin.
- Assuming New York allows portability; the instructions say it does not conform to the federal rule.
Related: New York estate tax (2026), estate tax by state, the federal estate tax exemption for 2027, New York probate cost, and New York retirement taxes.
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Answer againSources
- Estate tax (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance estate tax page): https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/estate/etidx.htm
- ET-706-I Instructions for Form ET-706, New York State Estate Tax Return: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/et/et706i.pdf
- ET-706 New York State Estate Tax Return (9/25): https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/et/et706_fill_in.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.