Skip to content
Join the beta
Free tool

Estate tax exposure calculator

The federal estate tax only reaches estates above the basic exclusion: $15 million per person for 2026. See how close your estate is today, and where growth could take it.

  • Runs in your browser; nothing is stored
  • Educational, not advice

Your figures

Sample household

Filled in with a sample household. Replace any figure with yours.

Tests the combined estate at the second death, with and without portability.
The estate today
$

Assets in your name and revocable trust, insurance you own, your share of entities.

$
$
$
$

Gifts above the annual exclusion, already made.

Looking ahead
% a year
% a year

Inflation; the exclusion is indexed from 2027.

years

Federal estate tax exposure

Sample household
Tax at second death today
$0
on $0 over the exclusion
Tax in 2041
$1.5M
in 15 years
Exclusion today
$30M
two, with portability
Taxable estate today
$21.8M
after debts and charity

At the second death today, the estate is under the exclusion: no federal estate tax. In 2041, about $3.7M would sit above the exclusion: $1.5M of federal estate tax. Without portability, today’s figure would be $2.7M.

Show the math
  1. Estate todayYour estate + your spouse’s$23,500,000
  2. Taxable estateEstate − debts and expenses − charitable bequests$21,800,000
  3. Exclusion$15,000,000 × 2 with portability$30,000,000
  4. Over the exclusionTaxable estate + lifetime taxable gifts − exclusion$0
  5. Federal estate tax40% of the amount over the exclusion$0
  6. Without portabilityThe same, with one exclusion$2,720,000
  7. In 2041Estate grown 15 years; exclusion indexed and rounded down to $10,000$1,485,925
  • Married: assumes everything passes to the surviving spouse at the first death (no tax then, under the unlimited marital deduction).
  • Lifetime gifts are counted at today’s value and combined for a couple; your attorney’s figures will be more precise.
  • State estate and inheritance taxes aren’t included, and current law can change.
  • Educational, not legal or tax advice.

How this calculator works

The 2026 basic exclusion is $15,000,000 per person, set by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and indexed for inflation from 2027. Above it, the federal estate tax rate is 40%, so the exposure is 40% of everything over the exclusion.

Lifetime taxable gifts (gifts above the annual exclusion) use up exclusion, so they’re added back. Debts, final expenses and charitable bequests reduce the estate.

For a married couple, we assume everything passes to the surviving spouse at the first death, which the unlimited marital deduction makes tax-free, and test the combined estate at the second death. With portability elected, the survivor keeps the first spouse’s unused exclusion; without it, that exclusion is lost. State estate and inheritance taxes aren’t included.

Questions

More free tools

Financial Independence calculatorHow much of your lifestyle your passive income already pays for, and the year it pays for all of it.Open the calculatorNet worth across entitiesList your trusts, LLCs and partnerships at their percentages and see your net worth at your share, with the ownership map.Open the calculatorRental DSCR and refinance calculatorThe debt service coverage ratio a lender will test on your property, how much room you have, and what a refinance could support.Open the calculatorEstimated tax safe harbor calculatorThe federal estimated payments that keep you clear of an underpayment penalty, using the 100% and 110% prior-year rules.Open the calculator

Educational, not advice. These tools use simplified models; take decisions to your CPA, attorney or adviser.