Inheritance Tax Calculator

Inheritance Tax Calculator

Federal estate tax applies only to estates over $12.92 million (2023), though some states have lower thresholds.

How It Works

1. Enter your income or relevant financial details 2. Select your filing status and applicable deductions 3. Review your estimated tax liability 4. Plan your finances accordingly

Important Notes

• Tax laws change frequently; verify rates for the current year
• This provides estimates; consult a tax professional for complex situations
• State and local taxes vary and may require separate calculations
• Consider tax-advantaged strategies to minimize your liability

Common Deductions and Credits

Many taxpayers can reduce taxes through:

• Standard deduction or itemized deductions
• Retirement account contributions
• Education credits
• Child tax credit
• Mortgage interest deduction

Estate Tax and Inheritance Tax Are Not the Same

	Estate tax	Inheritance tax
Paid by	The estate, before distribution	The beneficiary, on receipt
Federal	Yes, above the exemption	None
State	12 states plus DC	5 states

The federal estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per person for 2024 ($27.22M for a married couple with portability), so it affects a very small number of estates. Above it the rate reaches 40%.

Two things matter far more to most heirs:

• Stepped-up basis. Inherited assets reset to their date-of-death value, so appreciation

during the deceased's lifetime is never taxed as a capital gain.

• Inherited retirement accounts. The SECURE Act ended the "stretch IRA" for most

non-spouse beneficiaries — inherited IRAs must now be emptied within 10 years, and the distributions are ordinary income.

The 10-year rule is where the real tax bill usually lands.

A Note on These Figures

Brackets, thresholds and the standard deduction shown here are for tax year 2024, filed in 2025, and they are indexed to inflation every year. State tax is not included and ranges from nothing at all (Florida, Texas, Washington and six others) to 13.3% in California.

This is an estimate, not tax advice. Anything involving equity compensation, multiple states, self-employment or a life change is worth an hour of a professional's time.

Worked Through the Brackets

On $75,000 of gross income, filing single, taking the $14,600 standard deduction — so $60,400 of taxable income:

Bracket	Range	Income taxed here	Tax
10%	$0 – $11,600	$11,600	$1,160
12%	$11,600 – $47,150	$35,550	$4,266
22%	$47,150 – $100,525	$13,250	$2,915
Total			$8,341

That is a 11.1% effective rate against a 22% marginal rate. The two answer different questions: the marginal rate is what the next dollar costs, and it is the one that decides whether a 401(k) contribution or an extra shift is worth it. The effective rate is what you actually paid, and it is the one to budget against.

The Same Income, Different Sources

Source	Federal tax on it
Wages (above)	$8,341
Self-employment profit	$8,341 income tax plus $10,597 SE tax
Long-term capital gain of $10,000	$1,500 at 15%

Where income comes from changes the bill more than how much of it there is. A self-employed filer at this level pays roughly $10,597 that an employee never sees, because there is no employer paying the other half of FICA.