New York Estate Tax Calculator
Estimate the combined federal and New York estate tax on a New York decedent’s estate. New York imposes its own estate tax (Form ET-706) with an indexed basic exclusion (about $7.16 million for 2025) and a graduated 5.6% to 16% schedule — plus the notorious “cliff”: exceed the exclusion by more than 5% and the entire estate is taxed with no exclusion benefit. New York does not port its exclusion. 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%.
Exclusions, cliff and portability
Gross estate to taxable estate
Tax computation
What heirs receive
New York succession
Gifting analysis
Three-year gifting projection
How it works
- New York has its own estate tax with a cliff. Form ET-706 applies a graduated 5.6% to 16% schedule to the NY base (taxable estate plus adjusted taxable gifts). At or below 105% of the basic exclusion the tax is the schedule less the schedule tax on the exclusion; above 105% the credit is lost and the FULL base is taxed — the “cliff.” Exclusion and ladder are flagged VERIFY.
- No New York portability. A surviving spouse cannot inherit the unused NY exclusion; only the federal DSUE ports. Credit-shelter planning matters in New York.
- 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.
- No community property. New York is a common-law state, so no halving of community assets and no double basis step-up.
- Elective share. A surviving spouse may elect the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate (EPTL 5-1.1-A; VERIFY), capped here at the net estate.
- Small estates. Voluntary administration under SCPA 1301 is available where personal property is $50,000 or less; verify the current figure.
- Binding factor names what controls the result: the NY cliff, the NY exclusion, 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 NY exclusion (~$7.16M) is far below the federal exclusion, 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
- NY Tax Law Art. 24 and Form ET-706 (New York estate tax: indexed basic exclusion $6,940,000 for 2024 and $7,160,000 for 2025, 2026 held pending indexation; graduated 5.6% to 16% schedule; 105% cliff; no portability) — VERIFY the 2026 exclusion and the rate ladder against the ET-706 instructions.
- EPTL 5-1.1-A (spousal elective share: greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate; VERIFY); SCPA 1301 (voluntary administration small-estate affidavit, $50,000 personal property; VERIFY); Surrogate’s Court venue by county (62 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 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
Gross 6,500,000; admin 124,400; deductions 439,400; net estate 6,060,600; TE 6,060,600 at or below 7,160,000 NY and 13,990,000 federal. Federal $0, NY $0, TOTAL $0. NY headroom 1,099,400; cliff 7,518,000; ceiling 7,599,400.
Gross 10,000,000; admin 192,400; deductions 612,400; net estate 9,387,600; TE 9,387,600 above the 7,518,000 cliff. NY schedule 859,613 with NO credit = NEW YORK 859,613 (without the cliff it would be 267,693). Federal $0. TOTAL 859,613. Effective 8.60%.
Gross 24,000,000; admin 472,400; deductions 897,400; net estate 23,102,600; less marital 5,000,000 = TE 18,102,600. NY schedule 2,224,416 (cliff, no credit). Federal exclusion 15,990,000; FEDERAL 837,040. TOTAL 3,061,456. Effective 12.76%. Elective share 7,700,867.
Gross 18,000,000; admin 354,400; deductions 669,400; net estate 17,330,600; TE 17,330,600. NY 2,100,896 (cliff); Federal 932,240; TOTAL 3,033,136. Solver must reach the LOWER NY exclusion 7,160,000: 76,000/yr requires 134 YEARS (removes 10,184,000 leaving base 7,146,600), tax $0. Saved 3,033,136.
Gross 45,000; admin 1,140; deductions 8,140; net estate 36,860; TE 36,860 at or below both exclusions. Federal $0, NY $0, TOTAL $0. Voluntary administration available (personal property 45,000 at or below 50,000). Elective share capped at net estate = 36,860.
Estimates only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. The 2026 New York exclusion, the rate ladder, the elective share and the small-estate threshold are flagged for verification against NY Tax Law Art. 24, Form ET-706, EPTL 5-1.1-A and SCPA 1301. Verify all figures with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and federal rules before relying on them.
What Is the New York Estate Tax Calculator?
This calculator estimates transfer tax for a New York decedent by building a taxable estate from entered assets and deductions, then applying the federal and New York tax schedules encoded in the tool. It can also test estate-tax headroom or estimate how many years of annual-exclusion gifting would reduce calculated transfer tax to zero.
The tool uses separate federal and New York exclusions. For federal purposes, it adds any entered DSUE from a predeceased spouse. New York portability is not added. The code also applies a special New York cliff test that can remove the New York exclusion credit once the New York base exceeds 105% of the state’s encoded exclusion.
The calculator uses federal basic exclusions of $13,610,000 for 2024, $13,990,000 for 2025, and $15,000,000 for 2026. Its New York exclusion is $6,940,000 for 2024 and $7,160,000 for both 2025 and 2026. The interface specifically flags the 2026 New York figure, state rate ladder, elective-share figure, and small-estate threshold for verification.
How the New York Estate Tax Calculation Works
The calculation starts by adding the five entered asset categories: real property, financial accounts, retirement accounts and annuities, life insurance owned by the decedent, and business interests or other property.
Here, G is the gross estate. The other variables represent the five asset categories entered in the calculator. The code does not apply a community-property reduction.
Administration costs consist of the entered court costs plus the entered attorney and executor fee percentage applied to gross estate minus debts, with that fee base floored at zero.
D is debt, p is the entered fee percentage, and K is court and other costs. The net estate is then reduced by debts, funeral expenses, administration costs, and entered casualty or theft losses.
A marital deduction is allowed only when the married box is selected and the spouse is marked as 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 estate remaining after the marital deduction.
For a gifting plan, the calculator limits each annual gift used in the estate reduction to the encoded annual exclusion. That amount is $18,000 per donee for 2024 and $19,000 for 2025 and 2026.
In this formula, g is the gift entered per donee, e is the encoded annual exclusion, n is the number of donees, and y is the number of gifting years. Earlier taxable gifts are then added to the taxable estate for both the federal and New York bases.
P represents earlier taxable gifts. Federal tax is calculated from the calculator’s progressive 18% to 40% schedule. The applicable federal exclusion is the basic exclusion for the selected year plus entered DSUE.
SF is the progressive federal schedule encoded in the calculator.
New York uses a separate progressive schedule. The encoded rates begin at 5.6% and increase through $500,000 bands, reaching 13.6% in the $10,000,000 to $10,500,000 band and 16% above $10,500,000. The interface describes this ladder as approximate and flags it for verification.
The last branch is the calculator’s New York cliff. Once the base is greater than 105% of the New York exclusion, the calculator removes the exclusion credit and uses the full New York schedule tax.
Federal GST tax is calculated separately at 40% of direct skips remaining after the entered GST exemption.
Worked Example
Suppose a 2025 estate has $5,000,000 of real property, $3,000,000 of financial assets, and $2,000,000 of retirement assets. Gross estate is $10,000,000. Enter $400,000 of debts, $20,000 of funeral expenses, a 2% administration fee, and $400 of court costs.
The fee calculation is ($10,000,000 – $400,000) × 2% + $400 = $192,400. Total deductions are $612,400, leaving a taxable estate and New York base of $9,387,600.
The calculator’s 2025 New York exclusion is $7,160,000, so its 105% cliff is $7,518,000. Because $9,387,600 is above that cliff, no New York exclusion credit is applied. The encoded New York schedule produces $859,612.80, displayed as $859,613. Federal estate tax is $0 because the federal base remains below the calculator’s $13,990,000 federal exclusion.
How to Use the New York Estate Tax Calculator
- Select estate-tax mode, larger-estate headroom mode, or the gifting-years solver.
- Choose the year of death and the New York county of domicile.
- Enter real property, financial accounts, retirement assets, includible life insurance, and business or other property.
- Enter debts, funeral expenses, the attorney and executor fee percentage, court costs, and any casualty or theft losses.
- Enter marital information, a spouse bequest, and charitable bequests when relevant.
- Add earlier taxable gifts, federal DSUE, direct skips, and allocated GST exemption as needed.
- For gifting analysis, enter the number of donees, gift per donee, unrealized gain, capital-gains-rate selection, NIIT choice, and maximum years to test.
- Check the required acknowledgment and select the calculation button.
Estate mode displays total transfer tax. Headroom mode gives a text verdict and reports federal headroom, New York headroom, and a calculated tax-free ceiling. Gifting mode searches for the smallest whole number of years within the selected maximum that makes total calculated transfer tax zero.
What Your New York Estate Tax Result Means
| Calculator item | Implemented behavior |
|---|---|
| Federal exclusion | $13,610,000 for 2024, $13,990,000 for 2025, and $15,000,000 for 2026, plus entered DSUE. |
| New York exclusion | $6,940,000 for 2024 and $7,160,000 for 2025 and 2026. DSUE does not increase it. |
| New York cliff | 105% of the New York exclusion. A base above this amount receives no New York exclusion credit. |
| Effective tax rate | Total transfer tax divided by gross estate and displayed to two decimal places. |
| Spousal elective share | For a married estate, the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate, capped at the net estate. The calculator flags this rule for verification. |
| Voluntary administration | Marked available when financial, retirement, life-insurance, and business or other personal property total $50,000 or less. The threshold is flagged for verification. |
Most dollar inputs accept values from $0 through $100,000,000. The attorney and executor fee accepts 0% through 25%. The number of donees accepts 0 through 200, and the maximum gifting horizon accepts 1 through 200 years. Currency results are rounded to the nearest whole dollar for display.
The tax-free ceiling shown by the calculator is the current gross estate plus the smaller of remaining federal headroom and remaining New York headroom. Headroom itself is floored at zero. This is the code’s displayed ceiling formula rather than a separate iterative recalculation of a larger gross estate.
The calculator also displays filing indicators. Federal Form 706 is marked required when the federal base exceeds the applicable federal exclusion. New York Form ET-706 is marked required when the New York base exceeds the New York exclusion. The displayed filing deadline is nine months after death, with a six-month federal filing extension reference in the result text.
There are two implementation details to keep in mind. The detailed “Net to other heirs” row is calculated from the net estate minus marital and charitable deductions and transfer tax. However, the short estate-mode summary references a result property that the calculation does not return, so that summary can display $0 even when the detailed row is nonzero.
The gifting section also accepts unrealized gain and capital-gains-rate inputs. However, the current calculation result does not carry the unrealized-gain value into the displayed deferred-capital-gains arithmetic. As implemented, the deferred capital gains and related net-benefit figures can therefore display $0 even when an unrealized gain was entered. The accompanying explanatory text still references the entered gain.
This calculator provides an estimate based on its encoded assumptions. Tax treatment, filing duties, deductions, estate administration, and actual legal outcomes may depend on facts the calculator does not model. Several New York figures are expressly marked in the interface for verification, so the output should not be treated as legal, tax, or financial advice.
Estate Tax Calculators for All 50 U.S. States
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the New York estate tax cliff work in this calculator?
The calculator compares the New York base with 105% of the encoded New York exclusion. If the base is above the exclusion but no higher than the cliff, it subtracts schedule tax on the exclusion as a credit. If the base exceeds the cliff, that credit becomes $0 and the full encoded New York schedule tax is used.
Does federal DSUE increase the New York estate tax exclusion?
No. The code adds entered DSUE only to the federal applicable exclusion. The New York exclusion remains the amount assigned to the selected year. The results section explicitly displays New York portability as “Not allowed.”
How are earlier taxable gifts handled?
The calculator adds the entered earlier taxable gifts to both the federal base and the New York base after calculating the taxable estate. Those gifts therefore affect the federal exclusion comparison and the New York exclusion and cliff tests. The tool itself does not calculate a separate New York gift tax.
How does the gifting-years solver work?
The solver limits the effective annual gift per donee to the calculator’s annual-exclusion amount, multiplies it by the number of donees, and tests increasing gifting periods. It then uses a binary search and rounds the solution up to a whole number of years. If tax remains after the selected maximum period, it reports that more years would be required.
Can GST tax prevent the gifting solver from reaching zero?
Yes. GST tax is based on entered direct skips minus allocated GST exemption. The annual-exclusion gifting reduction does not change those two GST inputs. A remaining GST amount can therefore keep total transfer tax above zero even after the estate-tax portions have fallen to zero.
How does the calculator determine the spousal elective share?
If the married box is selected, the calculator starts with $50,000 and compares it with one-third of the net estate. It uses the larger amount but never more than the net estate itself. The calculator labels this New York elective-share treatment as a figure that should be verified.
What counts toward the voluntary-administration test?
The calculator adds financial accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and business or other personal property. It marks voluntary administration as available when that sum is $50,000 or less. Real property is not included in this particular code test. The calculator flags the $50,000 threshold for verification.