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Federal Estate Tax Estimate
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Estate Calculator
Federal Estate Tax Estimator
Estimate one decedent’s 2025 or 2026 estate tax using actual deductions, verified lifetime gifts and portability.
One U.S.-citizen or resident decedent, not combined couple wealth. Enter only verified estate inclusions and deductions. This illustration assumes no gift tax payable, historical credit adjustment, restored exclusion, QDOT, GST, special valuation or treaty issue. It is not a Form 706 return, a liquidity forecast or a filing determination. Federal tax is paid from the residual for other heirs, not from marital or charitable transfers. Asset ownership, deduction eligibility, portability and tax apportionment require professional review.
Included Estate Assets
Use the decedent’s includible ownership share, not combined household wealth. Include retirement accounts and insurance proceeds only to the extent legally includible. Do not net a mortgage here and deduct it again below.
Eligible Debts and Expenses
Verified Transfers and Exclusions
Marriage does not automatically halve an estate or double its exemption. DSUE is a verified inherited exclusion, not a deduction or a newly calculated portability election. Lifetime gifts must exclude property already included in this gross estate. State tax is a verified dollar estimate, not a universal rate or threshold; only the entered eligible portion is deducted federally.
Understanding Federal Estate Tax
The exclusion is a tax-credit calculation, not a deduction from the taxable estate. For a $20 million taxable estate with no prior gifts or DSUE, the modeled federal tax is $2 million in 2026 or $2.404 million in 2025. An actual eligible $5 million spousal transfer can reduce the 2026 taxable estate to $15 million; simply being married cannot.
How This Calculator Works
Gross estate less entered qualified deductions produces the taxable estate. Adjusted taxable gifts enter the cumulative transfer base. The IRS unified rate schedule is applied to that base and the applicable exclusion; the remaining modeled federal tax is funded from other heirs’ residual. The model cannot certify values, legal eligibility or special historical gift credits.
IRS Form 706 instructions and unified rate scheduleReview Your Estate Planning Assumptions
Review ownership, legal deductions, gift records, portability and distribution provisions with qualified professionals before acting on an illustration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the year of death: $13,990,000 for 2025 or $15,000,000 for 2026. These are per-decedent basic exclusions. Future indexed amounts are not supplied by this estimator.
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