Estate tax rates in 2026: federal and state
The federal rate schedule has twelve brackets, but an estate that owes federal tax in 2026 pays 40 % on every dollar above the exemption. State rates are lower at the top and start much sooner. Try an amount below.
- Federal rate above the exclusion
- 40 %
- Brackets in the schedule
- 12
- Highest state rate
- 20 %
- Federal exclusion
- $15,000,000
Federal estate tax for a death in 2026
$2,000,000
40 % of the $5,000,000 above the exclusion.
| Estate plus lifetime gifts | $20,000,000 |
| Exclusion (basic plus DSUE) | $15,000,000 |
| Tentative tax | $7,945,800 |
| Credit | $5,945,800 |
| Federal estate tax | $2,000,000 |
| 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
The federal estate tax schedule of section 2001(c) starts at 18 % on the first $10,000 and climbs through 12 brackets to 40 % above $1,000,000. Those lower brackets never produce a bill on their own. The tax is computed on the whole taxable estate and then reduced by a credit equal to the tax on the $15,000,000 exclusion, $5,945,800 in 2026, and since the exclusion lies far above $1,000,000, the credit absorbs every lower bracket. The result is a flat 40 % on the part of the estate above the exclusion: $400,000 on $16,000,000, $2,000,000 on $20,000,000. The same schedule applies to lifetime gifts. State rates work differently. Most states tax from their own, much lower exemption, with brackets that rise to a top rate between 12 % in Connecticut and Maine and 20 % in Hawaii and Washington, and the state tax is deductible from the federal base.
The federal schedule, bracket by bracket
Section 2001(c) of the Internal Revenue Code prints the schedule as a table of base amounts and marginal rates, reproduced from the statute. It is also Table A of the Form 706 instructions. Each line reads: over this amount, the tax is the base plus the rate on the excess.
| Taxable amount over | Tax on that amount | Rate on the excess |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | 18 % |
| $10,000 | $1,800 | 20 % |
| $20,000 | $3,800 | 22 % |
| $40,000 | $8,200 | 24 % |
| $60,000 | $13,000 | 26 % |
| $80,000 | $18,200 | 28 % |
| $100,000 | $23,800 | 30 % |
| $150,000 | $38,800 | 32 % |
| $250,000 | $70,800 | 34 % |
| $500,000 | $155,800 | 37 % |
| $750,000 | $248,300 | 39 % |
| $1,000,000 | $345,800 | 40 % |
Public Law 119-21 left the schedule as it was. What changed in 2026 is the exclusion, and with it the credit. Public Law 119-21 raised the basic exclusion to $15,000,000; the tentative tax on that amount is $5,945,800, which is the basic credit. Every bracket below 40 % is inside the exclusion, so it is cancelled by the credit for every estate.
Why the effective rate is 40 % or nothing
Take an estate of $16,000,000 with no lifetime taxable gifts. The tentative tax on $16,000,000 is $6,345,800. Subtracting the credit of $5,945,800 leaves $400,000, exactly 40 % of the $1,000,000 above the exclusion. An estate of $40,000,000 owes $10,000,000, which is 25.0 % of the whole estate but still 40 % of the excess. There is no progressivity above the exclusion: the tax is a flat rate on a single slice.
Federal tax at a given estate size
Federal estate tax for a death in 2026
$2,000,000
| Estate plus lifetime gifts | $20,000,000 |
| Exclusion (basic plus DSUE) | $15,000,000 |
| Tentative tax | $7,945,800 |
| Credit | $5,945,800 |
Two things lower the base before the rate applies. Debts, funeral and administration expenses, the marital deduction for what passes to a citizen spouse, and the charitable deduction come off the gross estate. State estate and inheritance taxes actually paid are deductible too, under section 2058. A New York estate that pays state tax therefore pays federal tax on a smaller amount, so a dollar of state tax costs the family about 60 % of a dollar once the estate is above the federal line.
Lifetime gifts use the same schedule
The gift tax shares the schedule and the exclusion. Taxable gifts above the annual exclusion are added up over the years; tax is owed only when the total exceeds the basic exclusion, and then at 40 %. At death the adjusted taxable gifts are added to the taxable estate before the schedule is applied, and gift tax that would have been payable on them is subtracted, so the same dollar is never taxed twice. The gift tax page follows a gift through Form 709.
Top state rates next to 40 %
State estate taxes are graduated in earnest because they start low: an Oregon estate is taxed from $1,000,000, a Massachusetts estate from $2,000,000. The top rates are lower than the federal rate, but they apply to amounts the federal tax never reaches.
| Jurisdiction | Method | Top rate | Tax on $20,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | table on the amount above the exemption | 12.0 % | $600,000 |
| District of Columbia | table on the whole estate once over the exemption | 16.0 % | $2,281,299 |
| Hawaii | table on the amount above the exemption | 20.0 % | $2,287,000 |
| Illinois | old federal credit table, interrelated | 16.0 % | $2,298,966 |
| Maine | table on the amount above the exemption | 12.0 % | $1,360,800 |
| Maryland | lesser of 16 % of the excess and the old credit | 16.0 % | $2,400,000 |
| Massachusetts | old federal credit table, minus a credit | 16.0 % | $2,567,200 |
| Minnesota | table on the amount above the exemption | 16.0 % | $2,459,000 |
| New York | own table, credit phased out to 105 % | 16.0 % | $2,666,800 |
| Oregon | table on the whole estate once over the exemption | 16.0 % | $2,702,500 |
| Rhode Island | old federal credit table, minus a credit | 16.0 % | $2,578,860 |
| Vermont | table on the amount above the exemption | 16.0 % | $2,400,000 |
| Washington | table on the amount above the exemption | 20.0 % | $3,090,000 |
Several states still use the old federal credit for state death taxes, printed on their forms as Table B, whose top rate is 16 %. Massachusetts and Rhode Island apply it and subtract a fixed credit; Illinois applies it with a formula in which the tax is deductible from its own base; Maryland takes the lower of that table and 16 % of the amount above its exemption. Washington has its own table, which changed for deaths on or after July 1, 2026; the Washington page shows both. Connecticut taxes at a single rate of 12 % above its exemption, with a cap on the total tax.
Rates do not change with the heir
The federal estate tax and the state estate taxes are charged on the estate as a whole, before anything is distributed. The rate does not depend on who inherits: a child, a nephew and a friend bear the same 40 % once the estate is above the exclusion. Only the spouse and charities change the result, because what passes to them is deducted from the base. Rates that do vary with the relationship belong to the inheritance taxes of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, Nebraska and Maryland, which are charged on each heir's share; they are compared on the inheritance tax page.
Combined rate on the last dollar
For an estate above the federal exclusion in a state with an estate tax, the last dollar bears both taxes, but the state tax reduces the federal base. With a state marginal rate s, the combined marginal rate is s plus 40 % of what remains: at a 16 % state rate, about 49.6 %. Below the federal exclusion the state rate is the whole story. The state estate tax page gives the method of each state in detail.