Idaho Estate Tax Calculator
Estimate the federal estate tax on an Idaho decedent’s estate and confirm that Idaho itself charges nothing. Idaho’s estate tax was only a pick-up tax tied to the federal state death tax credit, eliminated for deaths on or after January 1, 2005, so for 2024-2026 deaths the Idaho estate tax is $0. Idaho has no inheritance tax and no gift tax. Distinctive rules modeled: community property (only the decedent’s half enters the gross estate), the UPC-style graduated spousal elective share, 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.
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%.
Exclusion and portability
Gross estate to taxable estate
Tax computation
What heirs receive
Idaho succession
Gifting analysis
Three-year gifting projection
How it works
- Idaho charges nothing for recent deaths. Idaho’s estate tax (Idaho Code 63-3101 et seq.) was only a pick-up tax equal to the federal state death tax credit; that credit was eliminated for deaths on or after January 1, 2005, so the Idaho estate tax is $0 and no Idaho estate tax return is filed. There is no Idaho inheritance tax and no Idaho 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.
- Community property is halved. Idaho is a community property state, so only the decedent’s one-half of community assets enters the gross estate, and community assets receive a double basis step-up at death (IRC 1014(b)(6)).
- Portability is federal only. A surviving spouse may inherit the unused federal exclusion (DSUE) with a timely Form 706; Idaho has no state exclusion to port.
- Elective share is graduated. Idaho adopted the UPC elective share (Idaho Code 15-2-201): 3% of the augmented estate rising 3 points per year of marriage to 45% at 14 years and 50% at 15+ (VERIFY exact table).
- Small estates. Collection of personal property by affidavit where personal property is $100,000 or less (Idaho Code 15-3-1201; VERIFY current figure).
- 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 federal exclusion or below.
- Gifting is not free. Carryover basis loses the step-up; the deferred gain is netted against the tax saved.
Sources
- Idaho Code 63-3101 et seq. (Idaho estate tax, a pick-up tax tied to the federal state death tax credit, zero for deaths on or after January 1, 2005); Idaho State Tax Commission guidance confirming no state estate, inheritance or gift tax for those deaths.
- Idaho Code 32-901 et seq. (community property); Idaho Code 15-2-201 (UPC-style graduated spousal elective share; VERIFY exact table); Idaho Code 15-3-1201 (small-estate affidavit, $100,000 personal property; VERIFY current figure); probate venue in the Magistrate Division of the District Court of the county of residence (44 counties).
- 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 1014(b)(6) community property double step-up; IRC chapter 13 GST at 40%; IRC 1015 carryover basis.
- IRS Form 706 and Form 4768 instructions (9-month deadline, 6-month filing extension).
Test cases
Gross 4,500,000; admin 84,400; deductions 399,400; net estate 4,100,600; TE 4,100,600 below 13,990,000. Federal $0, Idaho $0, TOTAL $0. Headroom 9,889,400. Affidavit NOT available (personal property 2,500,000).
Community share 10,000,000; separate 8,000,000; gross 18,000,000; admin 352,400; deductions 777,400; net estate 17,222,600; less marital 6,000,000 = TE 11,222,600 below 13,990,000. Federal $0, Idaho $0, TOTAL $0. Headroom 2,767,400. Elective share 50% = 8,611,300.
Gross 20,000,000; admin 390,400; deductions 910,400; net estate 19,089,600; TE 19,089,600 above 13,990,000. Federal ~2,039,840. Idaho $0. TOTAL ~2,039,840. Effective ~10.20%.
Gross 19,000,000; admin 374,400; deductions 689,400; net estate 18,310,600; TE 18,310,600 above 15,000,000. Federal ~1,324,240. Solver: 76,000/yr requires 44 YEARS (removes 3,310,600) leaving TE 14,954,600 at or below 15M, tax $0. Saved ~1,324,240.
Community share 30,000; separate 20,000; gross 50,000; admin 1,240; deductions 8,240; net estate 41,760; TE 41,760. Federal $0, Idaho $0, TOTAL $0. Affidavit available (personal property 20,000 at or below 100,000). Elective share 18% = 7,517.
Estimates only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. Idaho elective share table and small-estate threshold are flagged for verification. Verify all figures with the Idaho State Tax Commission and federal rules before relying on them.
What Is the Idaho Estate Tax Calculator?
An Idaho Estate Tax Calculator estimates the transfer taxes produced by the values entered for an Idaho decedent’s estate. The calculator treats Idaho estate tax and Idaho inheritance tax as $0 for its supported 2024, 2025, and 2026 death years. It then estimates federal estate tax and any federal generation-skipping transfer, or GST, tax.
The calculator combines estate assets, debts, administration costs, marital and charitable deductions, prior taxable gifts, federal portability, and direct skips. It can calculate the current estate, test a larger estate against the federal exclusion, or estimate how many years of annual-exclusion gifting would reduce the modeled total transfer tax to zero.
Results include the gross and taxable estate, federal exclusion, remaining headroom, federal estate tax, GST tax, effective transfer-tax rate, small-estate flag, elective-share estimate, probate venue, and a simplified Form 706 filing indicator. These are estimates produced by the calculator’s coded rules rather than a professional estate-tax determination.
How the Idaho Estate Tax and Federal Tax Method Works
The calculation starts by building the gross estate. If the community-property box is selected, only one-half of the entered community property is included. Separate real estate, financial accounts, retirement assets, includible life insurance, and business or other property are added in full.
Here, G is the gross estate, C is total community property when the community-property option is active, R is separate real property, F is financial accounts, Q is retirement accounts and annuities, L is life insurance, and B is business interests and other property.
Administration cost equals the attorney or personal representative percentage applied to gross estate minus debts, with that fee base never allowed below zero, plus court costs. This is the actual code method even though the field label refers to a percentage of the net estate. Debts, funeral expenses, administration costs, and casualty losses are then deducted.
The marital deduction applies only when the decedent is marked married and the spouse is a U.S. citizen or the bequest qualifies through the QDOT option. The charitable deduction is limited to the remaining estate. In gifting mode, the calculator also subtracts annual-exclusion gifts.
The federal base equals the taxable estate T plus prior taxable gifts. The applicable federal exclusion equals the year’s basic exclusion plus entered DSUE portability. If the federal base exceeds that exclusion, the code subtracts the unified-schedule tax on the exclusion from the schedule tax on the federal base. GST tax is 40% of direct skips remaining after the entered GST exemption.
For example, consider a 2025 single decedent with $9,000,000 of separate real property, $6,000,000 of financial assets, $4,000,000 of retirement assets, and $1,000,000 of business property. Gross estate is $20,000,000. With $500,000 of debts, $20,000 of funeral costs, a 2% fee, and $400 of court costs, administration cost is $390,400. Net and taxable estate become $19,089,600. With no DSUE or prior gifts, the 2025 federal exclusion is $13,990,000. The coded federal schedule produces $7,581,640 of tentative tax and a $5,541,800 applicable credit, leaving $2,039,840 of federal estate tax. With no GST tax, total transfer tax is $2,039,840, while Idaho estate tax remains $0.
How to Use the Idaho Estate Tax Calculator: Step by Step
- Choose a calculation mode. You can calculate tax on the estate, test whether a larger estate would be taxed, or solve for years of annual-exclusion gifting.
- Select the year of death from 2024, 2025, or 2026. Then select the Idaho county of residence used for the calculator’s Magistrate Division venue display.
- Enter the date-of-death assets. If Idaho community property applies, check the community-property box and enter both spouses’ combined community property on that line.
- Enter debts, funeral expenses, the attorney or personal representative fee percentage, court costs, and casualty or theft losses.
- Enter marital information and any spouse or charitable bequests. For a non-U.S.-citizen spouse, select the QDOT option only when it applies to the bequest being modeled.
- Enter earlier taxable gifts, DSUE from a predeceased spouse, direct skips, and the GST exemption allocation used for the estimate.
- For gifting mode, enter the number of donees, annual gift amount, embedded gain, capital-gains rate, NIIT choice, and maximum number of years to test.
- Check the required acknowledgment and calculate. Numeric fields generally require nonnegative values, and the calculator reports missing or out-of-range entries before displaying results.
The main result changes with the selected mode. Estate mode displays total transfer tax. Headroom mode shows a verdict and remaining federal headroom. Gifting mode shows the number of years found by the solver, or reports that the tax cannot be eliminated within the selected time horizon.
What Your Idaho Estate Tax Calculator Result Means
Coded Federal Exclusions and Gift Limits
The calculator supports only three death years. Its federal basic exclusion and annual gift-exclusion settings are fixed in the code as follows.
| Year of Death | Federal Basic Exclusion | Annual Gift Exclusion per Donee | Idaho Estate Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $13,610,000 | $18,000 | $0 |
| 2025 | $13,990,000 | $19,000 | $0 |
| 2026 | $15,000,000 | $19,000 | $0 |
DSUE entered by the user is added to the federal basic exclusion. Earlier taxable gifts are added to the taxable estate when the federal tax base is calculated. Remaining federal headroom is the unused portion of the applicable exclusion, never less than zero.
Community Property, Elective Share, and Small Estates
The community-property calculation includes only half of the entered community property in the gross estate. The interface also mentions a double basis step-up, but the calculator does not calculate that basis adjustment. Its elective-share estimate applies a coded percentage to the net estate as a proxy for the augmented estate. The code itself flags the elective-share table for verification.
The small-estate flag compares $100,000 with the sum of financial accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and business or other property. Community property and separate real estate are not included in that specific test. The calculator also flags the $100,000 threshold for verification, so the result should not be treated as a legal probate determination.
Important Calculator Limitations
This is an estimate. The Form 706 indicator uses a simplified code test: taxable estate plus prior taxable gifts must exceed the applicable federal exclusion. Actual filing requirements can involve rules not represented here. The calculator also does not model asset growth, valuation discounts, state income tax, probate expenses beyond entered costs, or future law changes.
Two displayed areas need special caution in the current implementation. The result renderer requests a value for “Net to other heirs,” but the calculation object does not provide that value, so it falls back to $0. The gifting renderer likewise does not receive the entered appreciation value, causing its deferred capital-gains cost and net-benefit lines to fall back to $0. Do not rely on those specific displayed amounts without correcting the implementation.
Estate Tax Calculators for All 50 U.S. States
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Idaho have an estate tax in this calculator?
No. For every supported death year, the calculator sets Idaho estate tax to $0. It also sets Idaho inheritance tax to $0. The main tax estimate therefore comes from the federal estate-tax calculation and, when applicable, the separate federal generation-skipping transfer tax calculation.
How does the calculator handle Idaho community property?
When the community-property option is selected, the calculator includes 50% of the amount entered as total community property in the gross estate. Separate assets are then added in full. Although the interface notes a double basis step-up for community property, no basis step-up amount is calculated in the tax formula.
What federal estate tax exemption does the calculator use?
The calculator uses $13.61 million for 2024, $13.99 million for 2025, and $15 million for 2026. Any entered DSUE from a predeceased spouse is added to that basic exclusion. Earlier taxable gifts are added to the taxable estate when the calculator tests the resulting federal tax base.
How does the annual gifting mode work?
Gifting mode reduces the modeled taxable estate by annual-exclusion gifts and searches for the number of years needed to make total transfer tax zero. The gift counted per donee is capped at $18,000 for 2024 or $19,000 for 2025 and 2026, even if a larger gift amount is entered.
Can the gifting calculator always eliminate the estate tax?
No. The solver stops if total transfer tax cannot reach zero within the maximum number of years entered. The allowed horizon is 1 to 200 years. Because annual gifting reduces the estate-tax portion but does not reduce the calculator’s direct-skip GST input, an existing GST liability can also prevent a zero result.
How does the marital deduction work in this calculator?
The marital deduction applies only if the decedent is marked married and the surviving spouse is either a U.S. citizen or the QDOT option is selected. The deductible spouse bequest cannot exceed the calculated net estate. A non-citizen spouse without the QDOT option receives no modeled marital deduction.
When does the calculator say federal Form 706 is required?
The calculator says Form 706 is required when its federal base, defined as taxable estate plus prior taxable gifts, exceeds the applicable federal exclusion including DSUE. That is the program’s simplified filing test. Real federal filing requirements can be more detailed, so the displayed answer should be independently confirmed.
How accurate is the Idaho Estate Tax Calculator?
The arithmetic follows the formulas and fixed values coded into the calculator, but the result remains an estimate. Actual estate-tax, probate, marital-rights, gifting, and GST outcomes can depend on asset ownership, valuations, elections, tax law, legal documents, and facts that the calculator does not collect. Several Idaho-related figures are also expressly flagged for verification.