Estate Tax Statistics (2026)

The federal estate tax is a tax on the transfer of property at death, reported on IRS Form 706. It applies only to the portion of an estate above a lifetime exemption, so the vast majority of estates owe nothing (see the table below).

In 2026 the exemption is $15 million per person and $30 million for a married couple, with a top statutory rate of 40% on value above that line. The exemption is unified with the gift tax, so large lifetime gifts draw down the same amount.

The headline is how few estates the tax touches. The Tax Policy Center estimates that only about 0.1% of deaths, roughly 1 in 1,000, result in any federal estate tax, and just a few thousand estates a year owe it.

In IRS filing year 2021, about 6,158 estate tax returns were filed but only 2,584 were taxable after deductions and credits. Many returns are filed purely to elect portability of a spouse's unused exemption, not because tax is due.

The exemption has never been higher. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act roughly doubled it to about $11.18 million per person in 2018, and it climbed with inflation to $13.99 million in 2025 before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act reset the base to $15 million for 2026.

Critically, OBBBA made that $15 million level permanent and inflation-indexed, removing the scheduled 2026 cliff that would otherwise have cut the exemption roughly in half and pulled far more estates into the tax.

The long arc is one of a steadily shrinking tax base. The per-person exemption was $675,000 in 2001, $2 million in 2006-2008, and $3.5 million by 2009, then jumped to $5 million in 2011 and doubled again under the TCJA (see the chart and table below).

As the exemption rose, the number of taxable estates fell sharply: from roughly 50,000 a year around 2000 to a few thousand today. The tax now reaches only the largest fortunes rather than the merely affluent.

The 40% top rate is misleading as a measure of what estates actually pay. Because the rate applies only to value above the exemption, and estates use deductions for spouses and charity, the effective rate is far lower.

The Tax Policy Center has estimated the average effective rate on taxable estates at about 17% of the estate's value, below the top long-term capital gains rate (this figure is a 2017-vintage estimate; flagged). Even the largest estates rarely approach the 40% statutory ceiling.

The estate tax is a small revenue source. Estate and gift taxes together raised about $32 billion in fiscal 2024, down roughly 6% (about $2 billion) from the $34 billion collected in fiscal 2023 (see the takeaways above).

That is about 0.8% of total federal revenue and roughly 0.1% of GDP. Estate tax collections are volatile year to year because a handful of very large estates can swing the total meaningfully.

Filing and paying are different things. In filing year 2021, 6,158 returns were filed but only 2,584 (about 42%) were taxable; the rest owed nothing after deductions or were filed to preserve portability (see the table below).

Net estate tax was $13.2 billion in 2019 and $18.4 billion in 2021, averaging about $5.1 million and $7.1 million per taxable estate respectively. Total gross estate reported on returns was $189.6 billion in 2021.

The burden is heavily concentrated at the very top. In filing year 2021, taxable estates over $50 million paid an average of about $30.6 million each, versus about $763,000 for taxable estates under $10 million (see the chart and table below).

Estates worth $50 million or more are only about 15% of taxable estates but pay roughly 59% of all estate tax. The tax is steeply progressive within the small group of estates large enough to owe it at all.

Large estates look like concentrated investment portfolios, not just houses. On 2021 taxable returns, publicly traded stock was the single biggest asset at about $29.9 billion, followed by bonds ($11.6 billion) and cash ($8.3 billion) (see the chart and table below).

Closely held stock ($6.1 billion), real estate partnerships ($4.4 billion), and private equity or hedge fund stakes ($4.0 billion) round out the picture. Much of this value is unrealized capital gains that would otherwise escape income tax at death.

The two terms are often confused but are different taxes. An estate tax is levied on the estate itself before assets pass to heirs, based on the total value; the federal government and 12 states plus DC use this model.

An inheritance tax is levied on the beneficiary who receives the property, and the rate often depends on the heir's relationship to the deceased, with spouses and children usually exempt or lightly taxed. Five states levy an inheritance tax; there is no federal inheritance tax.

State-level death taxes can reach far smaller estates than the federal one. Twelve states plus the District of Columbia levy an estate tax, and five states (Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) levy an inheritance tax (see the table below).

Oregon has the lowest estate tax exemption at just $1 million, far below the federal $15 million, and Washington has the highest top rate at 35%. Maryland is the only state that imposes both an estate and an inheritance tax.

The backdrop to the estate tax debate is a historic handoff of wealth. Cerulli Associates projects that about $124 trillion will transfer through 2048, with roughly $105 trillion going to heirs and about $18 trillion to charity (Cerulli).

Baby Boomers and older generations account for nearly $100 trillion, about 81% of the total. Even so, the high exemption means the great majority of that wealth will pass entirely free of federal estate tax.

Three features keep the tax narrow. The exemption is large ($15 million per person), it is fully portable between spouses (so a couple can shield $30 million), and unlimited deductions apply to assets left to a spouse or to charity.

Layered on top are planning tools such as trusts, valuation discounts for closely held businesses, and lifetime gifting within the annual $19,000-per-recipient exclusion. Together these shrink the taxable base to a few thousand of the very largest estates.

For nearly everyone, the federal estate tax is not a concern: with a $15 million per-person exemption, well under 1% of estates owe anything, so basic planning is about avoiding probate and titling assets correctly, not dodging a 40% tax.

If your net worth is in the tens of millions, or you live in a state like Oregon or Massachusetts with a low state exemption, the calculus changes and gifting, trusts, and portability elections matter. A step-up in basis at death also erases unrealized capital gains, which shapes whether to gift assets now or hold them. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; consult a professional for your situation.