Maryland Estate Tax Calculator

Pri Geens

Pri Geens

Loading calculator…

Maryland Estate Tax Calculator

Estimate the combined federal, Maryland estate and Maryland inheritance tax on a Maryland decedent’s estate. Maryland is one of the few states with BOTH an estate tax (static $5,000,000 exemption, graduated 0.8% to 16% above it) and an inheritance tax (10% on shares passing to non-exempt beneficiaries). 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.

Maryland rules this calculator enforces: state estate tax YES (MD Code Tax-Gen 7-301 et seq., Form MD 706): static $5,000,000 exemption for deaths 2018 and later, graduated 0.8% to 16% schedule applied above the exemption via a credit, Maryland portability of the unused state exemption for deaths 2019 and later (VERIFY); state inheritance tax YES (MD Code Tax-Gen 7-101 et seq.): 10% flat on property passing to non-exempt beneficiaries, with the exempt class including spouse, children and lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, stepparents, stepchildren and siblings (VERIFY), and inheritance tax paid credited against the estate tax (VERIFY); no gift tax; common-law state, not community property; spousal elective share 1/3 of net estate with surviving issue else 1/2 (MD Est. and Trusts 3-203; VERIFY); small-estate simplified administration at $50,000 or less ($100,000 if the spouse is sole heir) (MD Est. and Trusts 5-601 et seq.; VERIFY); venue in the Orphans’ Court / Register of Wills of the county of domicile (23 counties plus Baltimore City).
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%.
Maryland exemption is static at $5,000,000; federal exclusion varies by year.
Orphans’ Court / Register of Wills venue; the taxes are state-wide.Required. Please choose a Maryland county.
Select a county to see the Orphans’ Court venue, the small-estate threshold, and the federal and Maryland exclusions for the selected year.

Assets at date of death

Home, land, rental buildings at fair market value.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Checking, savings, CDs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds.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, vehicles, equipment, receivables, trusts includible in the estate.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Maryland is a common-law (equitable distribution) state, not community property, so no community-property halving or double step-up applies.

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, marital status and inheritance-tax class

Unlimited marital deduction; spouse is exempt from MD inheritance tax.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Unlimited deduction; charities are exempt from MD inheritance tax.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Friends, unrelated parties, nieces/nephews if not in the exempt class, most entities. Taxed at 10% (VERIFY exempt class).Enter 0 or a positive amount.

Prior gifts, portability and GST

Post-1976 taxable gifts; they count toward the federal exclusion and the Maryland base. Maryland has no gift tax.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Federal portability; requires a timely federal Form 706 election.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Maryland portability of the unused state exemption (VERIFY availability and election procedure).Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Equals the federal basic exclusion for the year of death.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Federal GST at a flat 40% on Form 706 Schedule R.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.
Maryland’s low $5,000,000 exemption can require many years; raise this if needed.Enter a whole number between 1 and 200.

How it works

  • Maryland taxes estates AND inheritances. The Maryland estate tax (Form MD 706) applies a static $5,000,000 exemption with a graduated 0.8% to 16% schedule above it (credit model, not a cliff), and the Maryland inheritance tax applies 10% to shares passing to non-exempt beneficiaries; inheritance tax paid is credited against the estate tax (VERIFY).
  • Federal estate tax also applies above the federal basic exclusion using the unified 18% to 40% schedule; the federal GST applies at 40% to direct skips above the allocated GST exemption.
  • Portability exists at both levels. Federal DSUE with a timely Form 706; Maryland portability of the unused state exemption for deaths 2019 and later (VERIFY election procedure).
  • No community property. Maryland is a common-law state, so no halving of community assets and no double basis step-up.
  • Elective share. A surviving spouse may elect 1/3 of the net estate if the decedent left surviving issue, else 1/2 (MD Est. and Trusts 3-203; VERIFY).
  • Small estates. Simplified small-estate administration where property subject to administration is $50,000 or less ($100,000 if the spouse is sole heir) (MD Est. and Trusts 5-601 et seq.; VERIFY).
  • Binding factor names what controls the result: the Maryland exemption, the Maryland inheritance tax, the federal exclusion, the federal unified schedule, or the GST.
  • Gifting mode uses the guarded bisection solver (60 expansions, 90 iterations, rounded up). Because the Maryland exemption is only $5,000,000, eliminating all tax usually requires many decades of annual-exclusion gifting — the calculator reports this honestly.
  • Gifting is not free. Carryover basis loses the step-up; the deferred gain is netted against the tax saved.

Sources

  • MD Code Tax-Gen 7-301 et seq. and Form MD 706 (Maryland estate tax: $5,000,000 static exemption for deaths 2018 and later; graduated 0.8% to 16% schedule; Maryland portability for deaths 2019 and later — VERIFY).
  • MD Code Tax-Gen 7-101 et seq. (Maryland inheritance tax: 10% on non-exempt beneficiaries; exempt class includes spouse, children and lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, stepparents, stepchildren and siblings — VERIFY; inheritance tax credited against estate tax — VERIFY).
  • MD Est. and Trusts 3-203 (spousal elective share 1/3 with issue else 1/2; VERIFY); MD Est. and Trusts 5-601 et seq. (small estate $50,000 / $100,000 spouse-only; VERIFY); Orphans’ Court and Register of Wills venue by county (23 counties plus Baltimore City).
  • 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 both exemptions. Montgomery, 2025, single, no non-exempt bequests. Real 2,500,000; financial 1,000,000; retirement 500,000; debts 300,000; funeral 15,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 4,000,000; admin 74,400; deductions 389,400; net estate 3,610,600; TE 3,610,600 at or below 5,000,000 MD and 13,990,000 federal. Federal $0, Maryland $0, TOTAL $0. Federal headroom 10,379,400; MD headroom 1,389,400.
TC2 – Above MD exemption, below federal. Montgomery, 2025, single. Real 5,000,000; financial 3,000,000; retirement 2,000,000; debts 400,000; funeral 20,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 10,000,000; admin 192,400; deductions 612,400; net estate 9,387,600; TE 9,387,600. MD schedule 1,296,336 less credit 594,320 = MARYLAND ESTATE 702,016; inheritance $0; Federal $0. TOTAL 702,016. Effective 7.02%.
TC3 – Above both, marital + dual portability + non-exempt bequest. Baltimore City, 2025, married, citizen, descendants, spouse bequest 6,000,000, federal DSUE 2,000,000, MD DSUE 2,000,000, non-exempt bequest 1,000,000. Real 15,000,000; financial 7,000,000; life 3,000,000; debts 400,000; funeral 25,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 25,000,000; admin 492,400; deductions 917,400; net estate 24,082,600; less marital 6,000,000 = TE 18,082,600. MD exemption 7,000,000; MD schedule 2,687,536 less credit 914,320 = 1,773,216 gross estate tax; inheritance 100,000 credited; MD total 1,773,216. Federal exclusion 15,990,000; FEDERAL 837,040. TOTAL 2,610,256. Effective 10.44%. Elective share 1/3 = 8,027,533.
TC4 – Gifting solver, 2026, maxYears 200. Anne Arundel, single. Real 8,000,000; financial 5,000,000; retirement 3,000,000; business 2,000,000; debts 300,000; funeral 15,000; atty 2%; court 400; 4 donees at 19,000.
Gross 18,000,000; admin 354,400; deductions 669,400; net estate 17,330,600; TE 17,330,600. Federal 932,240; MD 1,972,896; TOTAL 2,905,136. Solver must reach the LOWER MD exemption 5,000,000: 76,000/yr requires 163 YEARS (removes 12,388,000 leaving TE 4,942,600), tax $0. Saved 2,905,136.
TC5 – Small estate with inheritance tax only. Worcester, 2025, single, non-exempt bequest 30,000, charitable 8,840. Financial 40,000; retirement 5,000; debts 2,000; funeral 3,000; atty 2%; court 300.
Gross 45,000; admin 1,160; deductions 6,160; net estate 38,840; TE 30,000 after charitable. MD estate $0 (below 5,000,000); MD inheritance 10% of 30,000 = 3,000. Federal $0. TOTAL 3,000. Small estate available (45,000 at or below 50,000).

Estimates only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. Maryland portability, the inheritance-tax credit, the exempt class and small-estate thresholds are flagged for verification against MD Code Tax-Gen and Est. and Trusts. Verify all figures with the Maryland Comptroller and federal rules before relying on them.

What Is the Maryland Estate Tax Calculator?

The Maryland Estate Tax Calculator estimates the transfer taxes produced by an estate’s assets, deductions, prior gifts, portability amounts, inheritance-tax bequests, and GST inputs. It separately calculates federal estate tax, Maryland estate tax, Maryland inheritance tax, and GST tax, then combines the applicable amounts into one total transfer-tax result.

The tool has three modes. Estate mode estimates tax on the current estate. Headroom mode compares the estate with the federal and Maryland exclusions. Gifting mode searches for the first whole number of years, within the selected maximum, that makes the modeled total transfer tax zero.

The results are estimates based on the formulas and assumptions encoded in the calculator. Actual estate-tax liability, inheritance-tax treatment, portability, filing requirements, probate procedures, valuations, and deductions may depend on facts the calculator does not model. Its Maryland portability, inheritance-tax credit, exempt-beneficiary class, and small-estate figures are expressly flagged for verification.

How the Maryland Estate Tax Calculation Works

The calculation starts by adding five asset categories: real property, bank and investment accounts, retirement assets, life insurance owned by the decedent, and business interests or other property.

Administration costs combine the entered Register of Wills and other costs with the attorney and personal representative percentage. Although the field label refers to a percentage of net estate, the implemented formula applies the percentage to gross estate minus debts, with a minimum fee base of zero.

Administration Costs=max⁡(Gross Estate−Debts,0)×Fee %100+Court Costs\text{Administration Costs}=\max(\text{Gross Estate}-\text{Debts},0)\times\frac{\text{Fee \%}}{100}+\text{Court Costs}

Debts, funeral expenses, administration costs, and casualty or theft losses are deducted next. The calculated net estate cannot fall below zero.

Net Estate=max⁡(Gross Estate−Debts−Funeral−Administration Costs−Losses,0)\text{Net Estate}=\max(\text{Gross Estate}-\text{Debts}-\text{Funeral}-\text{Administration Costs}-\text{Losses},0)

A marital deduction is allowed only when the decedent is marked as married and the spouse is either a U.S. citizen or the QDOT option is selected. The deduction cannot exceed the net estate. The charitable deduction is then limited to the amount remaining after the marital deduction.

Taxable Estate=max⁡(Net Estate−Marital Deduction−Charitable Deduction−Gift Reduction,0)\text{Taxable Estate}=\max(\text{Net Estate}-\text{Marital Deduction}-\text{Charitable Deduction}-\text{Gift Reduction},0)

The calculator adds earlier taxable gifts to this taxable estate for both its federal and Maryland tax bases. Federal DSUE increases the federal exclusion. Maryland DSUE increases the calculator’s $5,000,000 Maryland exemption.

Federal Base=Maryland Base=Taxable Estate+Earlier Taxable Gifts\text{Federal Base}=\text{Maryland Base}=\text{Taxable Estate}+\text{Earlier Taxable Gifts}
Federal Applicable Exclusion=Federal Basic Exclusion+Federal DSUE\text{Federal Applicable Exclusion}=\text{Federal Basic Exclusion}+\text{Federal DSUE}
Maryland Exemption=5,000,000+Maryland DSUE\text{Maryland Exemption}=5{,}000{,}000+\text{Maryland DSUE}

The federal estate tax equals the federal progressive schedule tax on the federal base minus the schedule tax on the applicable federal exclusion, with a minimum result of zero. The calculator uses basic federal exclusions of $13,610,000 for 2024, $13,990,000 for 2025, and $15,000,000 for 2026.

Federal Estate Tax=max⁡(SF(Federal Base)−SF(Federal Exclusion),0)\text{Federal Estate Tax}=\max\left(S_F(\text{Federal Base})-S_F(\text{Federal Exclusion}),0\right)

For Maryland estate tax, the calculator applies its graduated 0.8% to 16% schedule to the Maryland base and subtracts the same schedule calculated at the Maryland exemption. This creates a credit-based calculation rather than taxing the entire estate at one flat rate.

Maryland Estate Tax Before Inheritance Credit=max⁡(SM(Maryland Base)−SM(Maryland Exemption),0)\text{Maryland Estate Tax Before Inheritance Credit}=\max\left(S_M(\text{Maryland Base})-S_M(\text{Maryland Exemption}),0\right)

Maryland inheritance tax is calculated separately as 10% of the amount entered as bequests to non-exempt beneficiaries. The code does not cap that entered inheritance-tax base to the net estate or taxable estate.

Maryland Inheritance Tax=0.10×Non-Exempt Bequests\text{Maryland Inheritance Tax}=0.10\times\text{Non-Exempt Bequests}

The inheritance tax is credited against Maryland estate tax, but only up to the amount of Maryland estate tax. Maryland total tax therefore equals the estate tax after that credit plus the inheritance tax.

Inheritance Credit=min⁡(Inheritance Tax,Maryland Estate Tax Before Credit)\text{Inheritance Credit}=\min(\text{Inheritance Tax},\text{Maryland Estate Tax Before Credit})
Maryland Total=Estate Tax Before Credit−Inheritance Credit+Inheritance Tax\text{Maryland Total}=\text{Estate Tax Before Credit}-\text{Inheritance Credit}+\text{Inheritance Tax}

Federal GST tax is calculated by subtracting the entered GST exemption from direct skips and applying 40% to any positive remainder.

GST Tax=0.40×max⁡(Direct Skips−GST Exemption,0)\text{GST Tax}=0.40\times\max(\text{Direct Skips}-\text{GST Exemption},0)
Total Transfer Tax=Federal Estate Tax+Maryland Total+GST Tax\text{Total Transfer Tax}=\text{Federal Estate Tax}+\text{Maryland Total}+\text{GST Tax}

Worked Example

Suppose a 2025 estate contains $5,000,000 of real property, $3,000,000 of financial assets, and $2,000,000 of retirement assets. Gross estate value is $10,000,000. Assume $400,000 of debts, $20,000 of funeral expenses, a 2% attorney and personal representative fee, and $400 of other filing costs.

Administration costs are ($10,000,000 − $400,000) × 2% + $400 = $192,400. Total deductions are $612,400, leaving a net and taxable estate of $9,387,600 when no marital deduction, charitable deduction, prior taxable gifts, or gifting reduction applies.

The calculator’s Maryland schedule produces $1,296,336 on the $9,387,600 Maryland base. The schedule tax on the $5,000,000 Maryland exemption is $594,320. Subtracting that credit gives $702,016 of Maryland estate tax. With no non-exempt bequest, federal estate tax, or GST tax, total modeled transfer tax is $702,016, displayed as an effective rate of 7.02% of the gross estate.

How to Use the Maryland Estate Tax Calculator

  1. Select estate-tax, exclusion-headroom, or gifting mode.
  2. Choose a year of death: 2024, 2025, or 2026.
  3. Select the Maryland county or Baltimore City jurisdiction of domicile for the displayed Orphans’ Court and Register of Wills venue.
  4. Enter real property, financial accounts, retirement assets, owned life insurance, and business or other property.
  5. Enter debts, funeral expenses, the attorney and personal representative percentage, filing costs, and casualty or theft losses.
  6. Complete the marital-status, descendants, citizenship, QDOT, spousal-bequest, charitable-bequest, and non-exempt-beneficiary fields that apply.
  7. Enter prior taxable gifts, federal DSUE, Maryland DSUE, direct skips, and allocated GST exemption when relevant.
  8. For gifting mode, enter the number of donees, gift per donee, unrealized gain, capital-gains rate, NIIT choice, and maximum years to test.
  9. Check the required acknowledgment and select the calculation button.

Estate mode reports total transfer tax. Headroom mode returns a tax-status verdict plus federal headroom, Maryland headroom, and a calculated ceiling. Gifting mode reports either the years required, that no gifting is needed, or that the tax cannot be eliminated within the selected maximum years.

Understanding the Results and Important Assumptions

Federal and Maryland Headroom

The calculator subtracts the applicable federal and Maryland bases from their respective exclusions. Negative headroom is replaced with zero. Its displayed ceiling adds the smaller remaining headroom amount to the current gross estate.

Ceiling=Gross Estate+min⁡(Federal Headroom,Maryland Headroom)\text{Ceiling}=\text{Gross Estate}+\min(\text{Federal Headroom},\text{Maryland Headroom})

This ceiling is based on the estate-tax exclusions. The calculation does not reduce a separately entered Maryland inheritance-tax amount, so a positive non-exempt bequest can still produce tax even when both estate-tax bases are within their exclusions.

Annual-Exclusion Gifting

The gifting model uses $18,000 per donee for 2024 and $19,000 for 2025 and 2026. If the entered gift is higher, the calculator caps the estate reduction at the encoded annual exclusion.

Gift Reduction=min⁡(Gift per Donee,Annual Exclusion)×Donees×Years\text{Gift Reduction}=\min(\text{Gift per Donee},\text{Annual Exclusion})\times\text{Donees}\times\text{Years}

The solver can test up to 200 years. It searches for the first whole year in which total modeled transfer tax becomes zero. Because the entered non-exempt inheritance-tax base and GST inputs do not decrease with annual gifting, a positive tax from those items can prevent the solver from ever reaching zero.

Small-Estate and Elective-Share Outputs

The code’s small-estate result checks whether financial accounts, retirement assets, life insurance, and business or other personal property total $50,000 or less. Real property is excluded from this implemented test. Although the interface mentions a $100,000 threshold when a spouse is sole heir, the actual small-estate Boolean calculation always uses the $50,000 limit.

For a married decedent, the calculator estimates an elective share as one-third of its calculated net estate when surviving issue is selected, or one-half when surviving issue is not selected. The calculator marks this treatment for verification.

Elective Share={13×Net Estate,surviving issue selected12×Net Estate,otherwise\text{Elective Share}=\begin{cases}\frac{1}{3}\times\text{Net Estate},&\text{surviving issue selected}\\\frac{1}{2}\times\text{Net Estate},&\text{otherwise}\end{cases}

Capital-Gains Fields in the Current Implementation

The gifting section accepts unrealized gain, a 0%, 15%, or 20% long-term capital-gains rate, and an optional 3.8% NIIT setting. However, the current result code does not carry the entered unrealized-gain value into the calculated result object. As implemented, the displayed deferred-capital-gains cost and related net-benefit fields therefore resolve to $0 instead of reflecting the entered gain.

Input Limits and Result Formatting

Most dollar fields accept values from $0 through $100,000,000. The attorney and personal representative percentage accepts 0% through 25%. Number of donees accepts 0 through 200, and maximum years accepts 1 through 200. Currency outputs are rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The effective transfer-tax rate is displayed to two decimal places.

The calculator’s displayed marginal-rate field is simplified. It shows 16% when only the Maryland estate-tax base exceeds its exemption, 40% when only the federal base exceeds its exclusion, and 56% when both do. This indicator does not incorporate the separate inheritance-tax or GST calculation and does not select lower Maryland marginal brackets.

Estate Tax Calculators for All 50 U.S. States

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the calculator estimate Maryland estate tax?

It calculates the Maryland progressive schedule on the taxable Maryland base, then subtracts the schedule tax calculated at the applicable Maryland exemption. The base exemption is $5,000,000 in the calculator, and any Maryland DSUE entered by the user is added before the exemption credit is calculated.

How does Maryland inheritance tax affect the result?

The calculator charges 10% of the amount entered as bequests to non-exempt beneficiaries. That inheritance tax is credited against calculated Maryland estate tax up to the estate-tax amount. For example, a $30,000 non-exempt bequest produces $3,000 of modeled inheritance tax even when the estate is below the Maryland estate-tax exemption.

Are Maryland estate tax and inheritance tax simply added together?

No. The calculator first computes both taxes, then credits the inheritance tax against Maryland estate tax up to the amount of estate tax due. This prevents the credited portion from being counted twice. If inheritance tax exceeds the calculated estate tax, the inheritance-tax amount becomes the larger component of the Maryland total.

How do federal and Maryland portability affect the calculation?

Federal DSUE is added to the federal basic exclusion. Maryland DSUE is separately added to the calculator’s $5,000,000 Maryland exemption. The calculator treats these as different inputs and displays both resulting applicable exclusion amounts. Its Maryland portability assumption is specifically flagged for verification.

Does the county selection change the tax amount?

No. County or Baltimore City selection does not alter the federal or Maryland tax formulas. It determines the displayed Orphans’ Court and Register of Wills venue. A jurisdiction selection is required before the calculator will complete the calculation.

When does the calculator mark a Maryland return as required?

The calculator marks the Maryland return as required when the Maryland tax base exceeds the applicable Maryland exemption or when the entered non-exempt bequest is greater than zero. Federal Form 706 is separately marked as required when the federal base exceeds the applicable federal exclusion.

Can gifting always reduce the calculator’s tax to zero?

No. Annual-exclusion gifting reduces the modeled taxable estate, but it does not change the separately entered non-exempt inheritance-tax base or GST direct-skip calculation. If either creates a continuing transfer tax, the solver may report that zero tax cannot be reached within the selected maximum number of years.

Massachusetts Estate Tax Calculator

Maine Estate Tax Calculator

Related Calculators