Inheritance Tax Calculator

Inheritance tax is a state-level tax paid by the person who RECEIVES an inheritance, which is a different thing from estate tax, which is paid by the deceased person's estate before assets are distributed -- only a handful of U.S. states levy an inheritance tax at all, and this calculator models a simplified version of how those states typically structure it. The tax rate depends entirely on the recipient's relationship to the decedent: spouses are exempt outright (0%), children and other direct descendants pay the lowest non-zero rate, siblings pay a higher rate, and unrelated beneficiaries or more distant relatives pay the highest rate -- the specific rates here (0% / 4.5% / 12% / 15%) are modeled on Pennsylvania's inheritance tax schedule specifically -- codified at 72 P.S. Sec. 9116 under the state's Inheritance and Estate Tax Act of 1991 -- not a blend or a universal pattern; other states that levy the tax use materially different rates and exemption rules, so treat this as one real state's structure used for illustration, not a composite.

State Exemption is subtracted from the Inheritance Amount before the tax rate applies, so only the portion above the exemption threshold (the Taxable Amount) is actually taxed; if the exemption exceeds the inheritance amount, no tax is owed at all. The exemption figure itself is a simplified placeholder, not any one state's actual threshold -- Pennsylvania, for instance, has no general dollar exemption for lineal descendants, so adjust State Exemption to match your actual state's rules rather than trusting the default. Effective Rate expresses the tax as a percentage of the FULL inheritance amount (not just the taxable portion), which is always lower than or equal to the Applicable Rate whenever any exemption applies, since the exempted portion pulls the effective rate down. This is a simplified illustration, not a substitute for state-specific tax guidance -- as of 2026, only five U.S. states levy an inheritance tax: Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (Iowa repealed its inheritance tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2025), each with its own actual rate schedule, and Maryland uniquely imposes both an estate tax and an inheritance tax.