Does your state tax your estate?
The federal exclusion is $15 million, but a dozen states and DC start taxing estates between $1 million and $7.35 million, and five more tax what your heirs inherit. Pick your state to see what applies, today and as your estate grows.
Today and down the road
| Today | In 20 years | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable estate | $0 | $0 |
| State estate tax | $0 | $0 |
| Inheritance tax | $0 | $0 |
| Federal estate tax | $0 | $0 |
| Total | $0 | $0 |
What makes up the estate today
- Everything you own$0
- Life insurance death benefit$0
- Less debts and final expenses$0
- Taxable estate$0
What to know in your state
How these figures are estimated. State estate tax uses each state’s 2026 exemption and rate schedule, including New York’s cliff and Illinois’s interrelated calculation (which reproduces the Illinois Attorney General’s published $285,714 tax on a $5,000,000 estate). Federal tax is 40% of what remains above the federal exclusion after the state tax is deducted. These are estimates, not filing figures. Your estate attorney can confirm the exact amount.
Most of this is fixable, and the documents are on us.
An estate tax bill is rarely about how much you own. It is about how things are titled, who owns the life insurance, and whether each spouse's exemption gets used or wasted. For clients whose investments or cash value life insurance we manage, we set up the will, trust, and powers of attorney through Estately at no additional document cost.
Assumptions and limits. State exemptions, rates, and rules for deaths in 2026 from state revenue departments and statutes as compiled in 2026 (including the Tax Foundation and ACTEC state death tax summaries). Washington figures use the schedule for deaths on or after July 1, 2026. The federal basic exclusion of $15,000,000 for 2026 is from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32; for married couples the federal column assumes the first spouse’s unused exclusion was preserved with a portability election ($30,000,000). State figures for married couples assume the estate passes at the second death without a credit shelter trust; only Maryland and Hawaii allow portability of the state exemption. Inheritance tax is estimated as if the whole estate passed to the one type of heir you select, which overstates it when estates are split or when spouses and exempt heirs share. Projections apply your growth rate to everything you own, hold life insurance and debts level, and hold all thresholds at today’s amounts; several state exemptions and the federal exclusion are indexed for inflation, so holding them level likely overstates projected tax. Figures assume all property is in your state of residence, no prior taxable gifts, and no marital, charitable, farm, or business deductions. Estate tax law changes frequently. This tool is general education, not tax or legal advice. Confirm everything with your estate attorney.