Estate tax exemption in 2026: federal and state
The federal exemption is $15,000,000 for deaths and gifts in 2026. Twelve of the thirteen state exemptions are lower, some far lower. Enter an estate to see the federal tax, then compare with the states below.
- Federal exclusion 2026
- $15,000,000
- Couple with portability
- $30,000,000
- Lowest state exemption
- Oregon, $1,000,000
- Rate above it
- 40 %
Federal estate tax for a death in 2026
$1,200,000
40 % of the $3,000,000 above the exclusion.
| Estate plus lifetime gifts | $18,000,000 |
| Exclusion (basic plus DSUE) | $15,000,000 |
| Tentative tax | $7,145,800 |
| Credit | $5,945,800 |
| Federal estate tax | $1,200,000 |
| Year | Per person | Married couple with portability |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $15,000,000 | $30,000,000 |
| 2025 | $13,990,000 | $27,980,000 |
| 2024 | $13,610,000 | $27,220,000 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How we calculate · figures read on the state revenue department, the statute and irs.gov · not legal or tax advice
For a death in 2026 the federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person, set by section 70106 of Public Law 119-21, signed on July 4, 2025, which rewrote section 2010(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It was $13,990,000 in 2025 and $13,610,000 in 2024, and the law makes it indexed for inflation again from 2027, as Rev. Proc. 2025-32 states. The same amount covers lifetime taxable gifts and the estate together, so a gift above the annual exclusion uses part of it. A married couple can shelter $30,000,000 when the survivor receives the unused exclusion of the first spouse through portability. Above the exclusion the tax is 40 %: an estate of $18,000,000 owes $1,200,000. The state picture is different. 12 of the 13 jurisdictions with an estate tax exempt less than $15,000,000, from $1,000,000 in Oregon to $15,000,000 in Connecticut, and those state exemptions decide the tax for most estates that pay any.
Where the $15,000,000 comes from
The federal estate tax and the gift tax share one exemption, called the basic exclusion amount. Section 70106 of Public Law 119-21 replaced the $5,000,000 base written in section 2010(c)(3) with $15,000,000, moved the base year for inflation to 2025, and struck subparagraph (C) of the same paragraph. The amendment applies to estates of people dying, and gifts made, after December 31, 2025. The IRS confirms the figure on its estate and gift tax news page, and Rev. Proc. 2025-32 adds that the amount will be adjusted for inflation for 2027 and later years.
The exemption works through a credit. The tax is first computed on the whole taxable estate plus lifetime taxable gifts with the rate schedule of section 2001(c), then reduced by the tax that schedule would produce on the exclusion itself. On $15,000,000 that credit is $5,945,800, the basic credit amount printed in the Form 706 instructions. Since the schedule reaches its top rate of 40 % at $1,000,000, every dollar above the exclusion is taxed at 40 %.
| Year of death | Basic exclusion | Couple with portability |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $15,000,000 | $30,000,000 |
| 2025 | $13,990,000 | $27,980,000 |
| 2024 | $13,610,000 | $27,220,000 |
One exemption for gifts and the estate
Gifts are counted first. A parent who gives a child $1,019,000 in 2026 has made a taxable gift of $1,000,000, after the annual exclusion of $19,000. No gift tax is due: the gift is reported on Form 709 and uses that much of the exclusion. At death the adjusted taxable gifts are added to the estate, and the credit is computed on the total. The gift tax page shows the computation for one gift, and the annual exclusion page covers the gifts that never touch the exemption at all.
Federal tax on an estate above the exemption
Federal estate tax for a death in 2026
$1,200,000
| Estate plus lifetime gifts | $18,000,000 |
| Exclusion (basic plus DSUE) | $15,000,000 |
| Tentative tax | $7,145,800 |
| Credit | $5,945,800 |
A couple: $30,000,000 with portability
Each spouse has an exclusion. Anything left to a surviving spouse who is a US citizen is deducted without limit, so the first death usually uses little or none of it. Since 2011 the executor of the first spouse can pass the unused part, the deceased spousal unused exclusion or DSUE amount, to the survivor by filing a timely Form 706. A survivor holding a full DSUE amount dies with $30,000,000 of exclusion. A couple worth $25,000,000 that elects portability owes $0 at the second death; without the election the same estate would owe $4,000,000. The rules, and why most states do not follow them, are on the portability page.
The 13 state exemptions next to the federal one
Twelve states and the District of Columbia tax estates themselves, each with its own exemption. Only Connecticut follows the federal figure, by statute. The others are fixed amounts or are indexed on their own formula, and several are a small fraction of $15,000,000. For these estates the federal exemption is beside the point: an Oregon estate of $3,000,000 owes $205,000 to Oregon and nothing to the IRS.
| Jurisdiction | 2026 exemption | 2025 | State tax on $10,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,102,500 |
| Rhode Island | $1,838,056 | $1,802,431 | $979,660 |
| Massachusetts | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $968,000 |
| Minnesota | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $910,000 |
| Washington | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $1,100,000 |
| Illinois | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 | $926,923 |
| District of Columbia | $4,988,400 | $4,873,200 | $681,299 |
| Maryland | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $800,000 |
| Vermont | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $800,000 |
| Hawaii | $5,490,000 | $5,490,000 | $531,400 |
| Maine | $7,160,000 | $7,000,000 | $227,200 |
| New York | $7,350,000 | $7,160,000 | $1,067,600 |
| Connecticut | $15,000,000 | $13,990,000 | $0 |
The last column explains why the state matters more than the federal number for an estate of that size. A $10,000,000 estate owes no federal tax in 2026, yet it owes something in every one of these jurisdictions except Connecticut. The detail of each method, including the New York cliff and the Massachusetts credit, is on the state estate tax page.
What indexing from 2027 means
The new law brought back inflation adjustment with 2025 as the base year. The IRS publishes the amounts for future years in annual revenue procedures; until the 2027 one is out, no 2027 figure is official, and this site does not print a forecast. Section 2010(c)(3) rounds the adjusted amount to the nearest multiple of $10,000, which is why every exclusion in the IRS table ends in four zeros. Section 70106 contains no ending date: the amount it sets applies to every estate and gift after December 31, 2025, adjusted each year from 2027.
Gifts made before 2026
People who made large gifts in 2024 or 2025, when the exclusion was $13,610,000 and then $13,990,000, have used part of an exclusion that is now larger. The remaining room is simply the 2026 amount minus the adjusted taxable gifts already made. The IRS gift tax FAQ addresses this case and confirms that the $15,000,000 applies to gifts made in 2026 (IRS gift tax questions).