Minnesota estate tax in 2026
Minnesota taxes the part of an estate above $3,000,000, and it looks back three years at taxable gifts. Enter the estate to see the Minnesota tax, then the ladder of amounts below the result.
- Exclusion 2026
- $3,000,000
- First rate
- 13 %
- Top rate
- 16 %
- Form M706 due
- 9 months
Minnesota estate tax for a death in 2026
$260,000
5.2 % of the taxable estate; exemption $3,000,000.
| Exemption or threshold | $3,000,000 |
| Amount above it | $2,000,000 |
| State estate tax | $260,000 |
| Return due | 9 months after death |
Estimate on the state table for 2026. Federal tax comes on top above the federal exclusion.
| Taxable estate | State tax | Share |
|---|---|---|
| $3,000,000 | $0 | 0.0 % |
| $4,000,000 | $130,000 | 3.3 % |
| $5,000,000 | $260,000 | 5.2 % |
| $6,000,000 | $390,000 | 6.5 % |
| $7,000,000 | $520,000 | 7.4 % |
| $8,000,000 | $650,000 | 8.1 % |
| $9,000,000 | $780,000 | 8.7 % |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How we calculate · figures read on the state revenue department, the statute and irs.gov · not legal or tax advice
Minnesota's estate tax applies to deaths in 2026 when the federal gross estate plus taxable gifts made in the three years before death exceeds $3,000,000. That exclusion has been fixed in the statute since 2020 and is not indexed, so it stays at $3,000,000 year after year while the federal exclusion has climbed to $15,000,000. The tax is computed on the Minnesota taxable estate, which is the federal taxable estate plus those recent gifts, minus the exclusion. The first $7,100,000 of that amount is taxed at 13 %, and the rate then rises in steps to 16 % above $10,100,000. An estate of $4,000,000 owes $130,000; one of $6,000,000 owes $390,000; one of $10,000,000 owes $910,000. Minnesota publishes no portability rule for a surviving spouse. Property located in another state reduces the tax through a fraction, and Form M706 and the payment are both due 9 months after death.
From the federal return to the Minnesota tax
Minnesota borrows the federal arithmetic and then changes three lines. Under Minnesota Statutes section 291.016, the Minnesota taxable estate starts from the federal taxable estate, whether or not any federal tax is due. Three things are added back if they were deducted federally: the deduction for state death taxes, the deduction for foreign death taxes, and the taxable gifts the person made within three years of death. Then the exclusion is subtracted, together with a deduction for qualified small business and farm property when the estate qualifies for it. What is left goes through the rate schedule of section 291.03.
The first add-back matters more than it seems. The federal return lets an estate deduct the state tax it pays; Minnesota refuses to let its own tax shrink its own base. The estate is therefore taxed on the full amount, and the Minnesota tax is not circular, unlike the Illinois computation described on the Illinois page.
| Estate (taxable, no gifts) | Minnesota taxable estate | Minnesota tax | Share of the estate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3,500,000 | $500,000 | $65,000 | 1.9 % |
| $4,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $130,000 | 3.3 % |
| $5,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $260,000 | 5.2 % |
| $6,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $390,000 | 6.5 % |
| $8,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $650,000 | 8.1 % |
| $10,000,000 | $7,000,000 | $910,000 | 9.1 % |
| $14,000,000 | $11,000,000 | $1,499,000 | 10.7 % |
A flat first bracket that is very wide
Most state schedules climb quickly. Minnesota's does the opposite: its first bracket runs from the first dollar above the exclusion to $7,100,000 of taxable estate, all at 13 %. In practice every Minnesota estate between $3,000,000 and $10,100,000 pays a single rate on its excess, which makes the estimate easy: subtract $3,000,000 and take 13 %. Only estates above that range meet the steps at 13.6 %, 14.4 %, 15.2 % and 16 %. The first dollar over the line is taxed at 13 % and no more; there is no cliff of the New York kind.
Minnesota tax on your estate
Minnesota estate tax for a death in 2026
$260,000
| Exemption or threshold | $3,000,000 |
| Amount above it | $2,000,000 |
| State estate tax | $260,000 |
| Return due | 9 months after death |
The three-year look-back on gifts
Gifts are the obvious way to bring an estate under $3,000,000, and Minnesota closes part of that road. A taxable gift, meaning the part of a gift above the federal annual exclusion of $19,000 per recipient, counts in the Minnesota taxable estate if it was made within three years of death. Gifts that were already included in the federal estate are not counted twice. The filing test uses the same window: the M706 instructions require a return when the federal gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts made within three years exceeds $3,000,000.
Take a resident who dies with $3,500,000 after giving a child $1,000,000 twenty months earlier. Without the look-back the tax would be $65,000; with the gift added back it is $195,000. Had the same gift been made four years before death, it would have stayed out. Minnesota has no separate gift tax, so a gift made in time removes both the amount given and its later growth from the base. The rules of the other states are compared on gifts and state estate tax.
Property in Minnesota, property elsewhere
The tax computed on the schedule is multiplied by a fraction: the Minnesota gross estate, plus Minnesota-situs gifts, over the federal gross estate plus those gifts. For a resident, the Minnesota gross estate is everything except real estate and tangible property located in another state. A resident worth $6,000,000 who owns a $1,500,000 condominium in Florida pays $292,500 instead of $390,000, because a quarter of the estate sits outside the state. The fraction applies to the tax, not to the value, so the exclusion is in effect shared in the same proportion: without the condominium the same resident would owe $195,000.
The fraction works the other way for nonresidents. Someone who lived in Arizona and kept a lake cabin in Minnesota owes Minnesota a share of the tax computed on the whole estate, the cabin's share. A return is required once the federal gross estate plus recent gifts exceeds $3,000,000 and the estate includes Minnesota property. The instructions add a rule for interests in pass-through entities: a nonresident's share of Minnesota real estate held through a partnership, an LLC or an S corporation counts as Minnesota property, unless the securities trade on a regulated exchange. More examples are on property in another state.
Married couples
What passes to a spouse who is a US citizen is deducted, so the first death of a couple rarely owes Minnesota tax. The state publishes no rule letting the survivor add the first spouse's unused Minnesota exclusion, and the federal portability election does not create one. A couple whose combined estate is above $3,000,000 can therefore lose the first exclusion if everything goes to the survivor; married couples and state estate tax puts numbers on that difference. Minnesota also lets an estate make its own election for qualified terminable interest property on the M706, separate from the federal one.
Filing and paying
Form M706 is due 9 months after death under section 289A.18 of the Minnesota Statutes, and the tax must be paid by the same date. The automatic extension to file is six months, or the time the IRS grants for the federal return if that is longer; it does not extend the time to pay, and penalties and interest run on any tax paid late. For 2025 deaths the Department of Revenue printed an exclusion and filing threshold of $3,000,000; the statute fixes the same amount for 2026.