Alaska Estate Tax Calculator

Pri Geens

Pri Geens

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Alaska Estate Tax Calculator

Estimate the federal estate tax on an Alaska decedent’s estate and confirm that Alaska itself charges nothing. Alaska has no estate tax, no inheritance tax and no gift tax; its old statute imposed only a pick-up tax equal to the federal state death tax credit, which no longer exists. Alaska’s distinctive rules that this calculator does model are the graduated spousal elective share (3% to 50% by years of marriage) and the small-estate affidavit. Three modes: estimate the tax, test a larger estate, or solve for the years of gifting needed to reach zero. Fields marked * are required; Calculate names any left empty.

Alaska rules this calculator enforces: no state estate tax (AS 43.33 imposed only the federal state death tax credit pick-up, which is zero for deaths after 2004, so no Alaska estate tax return is filed); no inheritance tax; no gift tax; spousal elective share graduated by years of marriage under AS 13.12.201 (3% under one year, plus 3 points per year to 45% at 14 years, 50% at 15 or more years, of the augmented estate); small-estate collection by affidavit where personal property is at or below the statutory limit (AS 13.16.695; commonly cited $100,000; verify current figure); probate venue in the Alaska Superior Court for the judicial district of domicile; spouses may opt into community property through an Alaska community property trust (AS 34.35), noted but not modeled.
Federal: unified estate and gift schedule topping at 40%; basic exclusion $13,610,000 (2024), $13,990,000 (2025), $15,000,000 (2026); federal portability (DSUE) allowed; unlimited marital and charitable deductions; GST 40%.
Sets the federal basic exclusion and annual gift exclusion.
Alaska Superior Court probate venue; the estate tax itself is federal only.Required. Please choose an Alaska judicial district.
Select a judicial district to see the Superior Court venue, the small-estate affidavit threshold, and the federal exclusion for the selected year.

Assets at date of death

Home, land, cabin, rental buildings at fair market value.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Checking, savings, CDs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, Permanent Fund Dividend receivables.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, pensions, annuity contracts.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Death benefit includible when the decedent held any incident of ownership.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Closely held business, fishing or equipment interests, vehicles, receivables, trusts includible in the estate.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Alaska is a common-law (equitable distribution) state, not community property. Spouses may opt into community property only through an Alaska community property trust under AS 34.35; if one holds assets, count only the decedent’s half here and confirm treatment with counsel.

Debts and administration costs

Deductible obligations of the decedent.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Deductible when paid by the estate.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Deductible administration expense.Enter a percentage between 0 and 25.
Filing fees, publication, appraisal costs.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Deductible if not compensated by insurance.Enter 0 or a positive amount.

Bequests and marital status

Drives the graduated elective share: 3% under 1 year, plus 3 points per year, 50% at 15 or more (AS 13.12.201).Enter a whole number between 0 and 80.
Unlimited marital deduction for a citizen spouse or a QDOT.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Unlimited deduction for qualifying charities.Enter 0 or a positive amount.

Prior gifts, portability and GST

Post-1976 taxable gifts; they consume the federal exclusion. Alaska has no gift tax and no add-back.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Federal portability; requires a timely federal Form 706 election.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Federal GST at a flat 40% on Form 706 Schedule R.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Equals the federal basic exclusion for the year of death.Enter 0 or a positive amount.

Gifting plan

Required in gifting mode. Annual-exclusion gifts are not taxable gifts.Required in gifting mode. Enter 1 or more donees.
Amounts above the annual exclusion become taxable gifts.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Gifts carry over basis and lose the step-up at death.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
If the tax cannot be eliminated inside this horizon, the calculator says so.Enter a whole number between 1 and 100.

How it works

  • Alaska charges nothing. The Alaska estate tax statute imposed only a pick-up tax equal to the federal state death tax credit; that credit was eliminated for deaths after 2004, so the Alaska estate tax is $0 and no Alaska estate tax return is filed. There is no Alaska inheritance tax and no Alaska gift tax.
  • Only federal transfer taxes apply. The federal estate tax applies above the basic exclusion using the unified 18% to 40% schedule, and the federal GST applies at 40% to direct skips above the allocated GST exemption.
  • Portability is federal only. A surviving spouse may inherit the unused federal exclusion (DSUE) with a timely Form 706 election; there is no Alaska state exclusion to port.
  • The elective share is graduated. Under AS 13.12.201 the surviving spouse’s elective share rises from 3% of the augmented estate for a marriage under one year, by 3 percentage points per year, to 45% at 14 years and 50% at 15 or more years. This calculator approximates the augmented estate with the net estate.
  • Small estates skip full probate. Collection by affidavit under AS 13.16.695 is available where personal property is at or below the statutory limit (commonly cited $100,000; verify the current figure).
  • Community property is optional. Alaska is common-law, but spouses may create an Alaska community property trust under AS 34.35; such assets are noted here but not specially modeled.
  • Binding factor names what controls the result: the federal basic exclusion, the federal unified schedule above it, or the GST.
  • Gifting mode uses the guarded bisection solver (60 expansions, 90 iterations, rounded up) to find the years of annual-exclusion gifting that bring the taxable estate to the exclusion or below.
  • Gifting is not free. Carryover basis loses the step-up; the deferred gain is netted against the tax saved.

Sources

  • AS 43.33 (estate tax pick-up statute, inoperative for deaths after 2004 because the IRC 2011 credit was eliminated); Alaska Department of Revenue guidance confirming no state estate, inheritance or gift tax.
  • AS 13.12.201 (graduated spousal elective share, 3% to 50% by years of marriage); AS 13.16.695 (small-estate collection by affidavit); AS 34.35 (Alaska Community Property Act); Alaska Superior Court probate venue in the judicial district of domicile.
  • IRC chapter 11 unified schedule and exclusion ($13,610,000 / $13,990,000 / $15,000,000 for 2024 / 2025 / 2026); IRC 2010 portability; IRC 2042 life insurance inclusion; IRC 2055 charitable deduction; IRC chapter 13 GST at 40%; IRC 1014 step-up and 1015 carryover basis.
  • IRS Form 706 and Form 4768 instructions (9-month deadline, 6-month filing extension).

Test cases

TC1 – Below federal exclusion. Second District (Anchorage area), 2025, single. Real 900,000; financial 600,000; retirement 300,000; debts 150,000; funeral 12,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 1,800,000; admin 33,400; deductions 195,400; net estate 1,604,600; TE 1,604,600 below 13,990,000. Federal $0, Alaska $0, GST $0, TOTAL $0. Headroom 12,385,400; ceiling 14,185,400. Form 706 not required; affidavit NOT available (personal property 900,000 above 100,000).
TC2 – Taxable estate. Third District (Fairbanks area), 2025, single. Gross 20,000,000; debts 500,000; funeral 20,000; atty 2%; court 400; charitable 89,600.
Admin 390,400; deductions 910,400; net estate 19,089,600; TE 19,000,000. Federal tentative 7,545,800 less credit 5,541,800 = FEDERAL 2,004,000. Alaska $0. TOTAL 2,004,000. Effective 10.02%. Form 706 required.
TC3 – Marital deduction plus DSUE plus elective share. First District (Juneau area), 2025, married 20 years, citizen spouse, spouse bequest 6,000,000, DSUE 3,000,000. Gross 25,000,000; debts 400,000; funeral 25,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Admin 492,400; deductions 917,400; net estate 24,082,600; less marital 6,000,000 = TE 18,082,600; federal exclusion 16,990,000. Federal tentative 7,178,840 less credit 6,741,800 = FEDERAL 437,040. Alaska $0. TOTAL 437,040. Effective 1.75%. Elective share 50% = 12,041,300. Net to other heirs 17,645,560.
TC4 – Gifting solver, 2026. Second District (Mat-Su area), single. Gross 18,000,000; debts 300,000; funeral 15,000; atty 2%; court 400; 4 donees at 19,000.
Admin 354,400; deductions 669,400; net estate 17,330,600; TE 17,330,600 above 15,000,000. FEDERAL 932,240. Solver: 76,000 per year; 31 YEARS removes 2,356,000 leaving TE 14,974,600 at or below the exclusion, tax $0. Saved 932,240.
TC5 – Small estate, affidavit eligible, short marriage. Second District (Kenai area), 2025, married 5 years, citizen spouse. Financial 60,000; retirement 20,000; debts 5,000; funeral 4,000; atty 2%; court 300.
Gross 80,000; admin 1,800; deductions 10,800; net estate 69,200; TE 69,200. Federal $0, Alaska $0, TOTAL $0. Affidavit available (personal property 80,000 at or below 100,000). Elective share 18% = 12,456.

Estimates only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. Verify the current Alaska Statutes Titles 13 and 43 and federal rules before relying on any figure.

What Is the Alaska Estate Tax Calculator?

The Alaska Estate Tax Calculator is an estate-planning estimate tool for estates connected with Alaska. It combines asset values, deductible costs, bequests, prior taxable gifts, portability, and generation-skipping transfers to estimate the transfer taxes produced by the calculator’s 2024 through 2026 rules.

An Alaska estate tax calculator helps you estimate whether an estate exceeds the federal applicable exclusion and how much federal estate or GST tax the calculator produces. Under this tool’s rules, Alaska estate tax and inheritance tax are always $0, so any calculated transfer tax comes from the federal estate tax or federal GST tax.

The tool is designed for executors, surviving spouses, families, estate owners, and professionals who want a quick estimate before obtaining personalized tax or legal advice. It can calculate the current estate, test whether a larger estate would be taxed, or estimate how many years of annual-exclusion gifting are needed for the calculator’s total transfer tax to reach zero.

How the Alaska Estate Tax Calculator Formula Works

The calculation starts by adding the five asset categories entered in the form: real property, financial accounts, retirement accounts and annuities, includible life insurance, and business interests or other property.

G=R+F+Ret+L+BG = R + F + Ret + L + B

Here, G is the gross estate. R is real property, F is financial accounts, Ret is retirement accounts and annuities, L is life insurance entered in the calculator, and B is business interests, personal property, and other assets.

The script calculates administration costs by applying the entered attorney and personal representative percentage to gross estate minus debts, with a minimum fee base of zero. It then adds the entered court costs.

A=max⁡(G−D,0)×(p/100)+CA = \max(G-D,0)\times(p/100)+C

The net estate is gross estate minus debts, funeral expenses, administration costs, and casualty or theft losses, but it cannot fall below zero.

N=max⁡(G−D−Fu−A−Ls,0)N = \max(G-D-F_u-A-L_s,0)

If the decedent was married, the calculator permits a marital deduction when the surviving spouse is a U.S. citizen or the bequest passes to a QDOT. The deduction cannot exceed the net estate. The charitable deduction is then limited to the amount remaining after the marital deduction.

TE=max⁡(N−M−CH−GR,0)TE = \max(N-M-CH-GR,0)

TE is the taxable estate, M is the allowed marital deduction, CH is the charitable deduction, and GR is any annual-exclusion gifting reduction used in gifting mode. The calculator adds earlier taxable gifts to create the federal tax base. It adds DSUE to the federal basic exclusion.

FB=TE+PG,E=BEA+DSUEFB = TE + PG,\quad E = BEA + DSUE

If the federal base exceeds the applicable exclusion, the calculator applies its progressive federal schedule, which runs from 18% through 40%. It subtracts the schedule tax on the applicable exclusion from the schedule tax on the federal base.

Federal Tax=S(FB)−S(E) when FB>E; otherwise 0Federal\ Tax = S(FB)-S(E)\text{ when }FB>E;\text{ otherwise }0

Generation-skipping transfer tax is calculated separately at 40% of direct skips remaining after the GST exemption entered by the user.

GST=0.40×max⁡(Direct Skips−GST Exemption,0)GST = 0.40\times\max(Direct\ Skips-GST\ Exemption,0)

Total transfer tax equals federal estate tax plus GST because the code assigns $0 to both Alaska estate tax and Alaska inheritance tax.

Worked Example

  1. Assume a 2025 gross estate of $20,000,000, debts of $500,000, funeral costs of $20,000, a 2% administration percentage, $400 of court costs, and a $89,600 charitable bequest.
  2. The fee base is $19,500,000. Two percent is $390,000, and adding $400 produces $390,400 of administration costs.
  3. Total deductions before charity are $910,400. The resulting net estate is $19,089,600.
  4. Subtracting the $89,600 charitable deduction produces a taxable estate and federal base of $19,000,000.
  5. For 2025, the encoded basic exclusion is $13,990,000. The schedule tax on $19,000,000 is $7,545,800, while the schedule tax on $13,990,000 is $5,541,800.
  6. The calculator therefore produces federal estate tax of $2,004,000. With no GST due, total transfer tax is also $2,004,000, while Alaska estate and inheritance tax remain $0.

How to Use the Alaska Estate Tax Calculator: Step by Step

  1. Choose a calculation mode: estate tax on the current estate, whether a larger estate would be taxed, or years of gifting needed to eliminate the calculator’s transfer tax.
  2. Select the year of death from 2024, 2025, or 2026, then choose the Alaska judicial district of domicile.
  3. Enter the estate’s real property, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement assets, includible life insurance, and business interests or other property.
  4. Enter debts, funeral expenses, the attorney and personal representative fee percentage, court costs, and casualty or theft losses.
  5. If applicable, mark the decedent as married. Enter years of marriage, spouse citizenship or QDOT status, the spouse bequest, and charitable bequests.
  6. Enter earlier taxable gifts, DSUE received from a predeceased spouse, direct skips, and the GST exemption you want the calculator to subtract.
  7. For gifting analysis, enter the number of donees, annual gift amount per donee, unrealized gain, capital gains rate, NIIT choice, and maximum years to test.
  8. Check the required acknowledgment and calculate. The calculator then displays the transfer tax result and its supporting estate, exclusion, succession, filing, and gifting figures.

The main result changes by mode. Estate mode shows total transfer tax. Headroom mode states whether the estate profile produces tax and displays remaining exclusion headroom. Gifting mode reports the years needed, when possible, for annual-exclusion gifting to reduce the calculator’s total tax to zero.

What Your Alaska Estate Tax Calculator Result Means

Federal Exclusion Amounts Used by the Calculator

Year of DeathFederal Basic ExclusionAnnual Gift Exclusion Used
2024$13,610,000$18,000 per donee
2025$13,990,000$19,000 per donee
2026$15,000,000$19,000 per donee

DSUE entered by the user is added directly to the basic exclusion. Earlier taxable gifts are added to the taxable estate for the federal base. The calculator flags Form 706 as required when that federal base exceeds the applicable exclusion. Its results also show a nine-month filing deadline and a six-month filing extension through Form 4768.

Alaska Elective Share and Small-Estate Result

For a married decedent, the tool estimates an elective share using the net estate as a proxy for the augmented estate. The percentage is 3% at zero completed years of marriage, increases by 3 percentage points for each entered year through a 45% cap, and becomes 50% at 15 or more years.

The small-estate affidavit test uses only financial accounts, retirement assets, life insurance, and business or other personal property. If their combined value is $100,000 or less, the calculator marks the estate as affidavit eligible. Real property is not included in this particular threshold calculation.

Important Calculation Limits

  • The fee field is labeled as a percentage of net estate, but the script actually applies the percentage to gross estate minus debts before adding court costs.
  • The GST exemption is not filled automatically. Although the interface describes it in relation to the federal exclusion, the code subtracts only the amount the user enters.
  • Gifting reductions are capped at the annual exclusion per donee. Amounts entered above that limit are not added automatically to taxable gifts by the gifting calculation.
  • Planned gifting reduces the taxable estate in gifting mode, but it does not reduce the separate displayed net-estate or net-to-other-heirs calculation.
  • The current script does not return an effective-rate value to the result renderer. As written, the displayed effective-rate figure resolves to 0.00% instead of a calculated effective rate.
  • The displayed deferred capital-gains and net-benefit rows reference a result property that the calculation function does not return, so those rows resolve to $0. The explanatory basis note separately uses the entered unrealized gain and selected tax rate.

This calculator provides estimates only. Its rules are fixed to the values and logic encoded for 2024 through 2026. Actual estate, gift, GST, probate, filing, basis, and tax results may depend on facts, elections, laws, valuations, deductions, deadlines, and professional interpretation that the calculator does not model.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Alaska have an estate tax in this calculator?

No. The calculator sets Alaska estate tax to $0 for every calculation. It also sets Alaska inheritance tax to $0 and does not calculate an Alaska gift tax. Any positive total transfer tax shown by the tool therefore comes from its federal estate tax calculation, federal GST calculation, or both.

How does the calculator determine federal estate tax?

It calculates a taxable estate after its allowed debts, expenses, marital deduction, charitable deduction, and any modeled gifting reduction. Earlier taxable gifts are added to that amount. If the resulting federal base exceeds the basic exclusion plus DSUE, the calculator applies its progressive federal schedule and subtracts the credit represented by the exclusion.

Does the Alaska estate tax calculator include portability?

Yes. The calculator has a DSUE field for exclusion transferred from a predeceased spouse. Whatever amount you enter is added to the selected year’s federal basic exclusion. The tool labels federal portability as allowed and notes that a timely Form 706 election is needed, but it does not determine whether a real estate qualifies.

How is the Alaska spousal elective share calculated?

The calculator applies a percentage to its calculated net estate. It starts at 3% for zero completed years, adds 3 percentage points per entered year, reaches 45% at 14 years, and switches to 50% at 15 or more years. The code uses net estate as an approximation of the augmented estate.

How does the gifting mode calculate the number of years needed?

Gifting mode uses the smaller of the entered gift per donee and the annual exclusion for the selected year. It multiplies that amount by the number of donees and years, then searches for the first whole year that makes total transfer tax zero. The search stops at the maximum number of years entered.

What happens if I enter gifts above the annual exclusion?

The gifting calculation does not use the excess amount. It caps the effective annual gift per donee at $18,000 for 2024 or $19,000 for 2025 and 2026. The script does not automatically treat the excess as a taxable gift. Earlier taxable gifts must instead be entered separately in the designated field.

How accurate is this Alaska estate tax calculator?

It is an estimate that follows the formulas and fixed values in the supplied code. It does not replace an estate-tax return, appraisal, probate analysis, or professional advice. Results can differ from real outcomes because of asset ownership, valuation, deductions, elections, tax-law changes, basis rules, filing requirements, and other estate-specific facts.

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