South Dakota Estate Tax Calculator

Pri Geens

Pri Geens

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South Dakota Estate Tax Calculator

Estimate the federal estate tax on a South Dakota decedent’s estate and confirm that South Dakota itself charges nothing. South Dakota has no estate tax (the former pick-up tax is $0 for deaths after 2004), no inheritance tax, and no gift tax, so for 2024-2026 deaths South Dakota tax is $0. 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.

South Dakota rules this calculator enforces: NO state estate tax for recent deaths (the former pick-up estate tax was tied to the federal state death tax credit under IRC 2011 and is $0 for deaths after 2004; VERIFY effective repeal date), so no South Dakota estate tax return is filed; no inheritance tax; no gift tax; common-law (equitable distribution) state, not community property; spousal elective share of one-third of the augmented estate (SDCL 29A-2-201 et seq.; VERIFY); small-estate affidavit where personal property is $25,000 or less (SDCL 29A-3-1201; VERIFY); probate venue in the Probate Court of the county of domicile (44 counties).
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 exclusion and annual gift exclusion. South Dakota tax is $0 for all three years.
Probate Court venue; no South Dakota estate tax applies.Required. Please choose a South Dakota county.
Select a county to see the Probate Court venue, the small-estate threshold, and the federal exclusion 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.
South Dakota 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 and marital status

Unlimited marital deduction for a citizen spouse or a QDOT (federal).Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Unlimited federal deduction for qualifying charities.Enter 0 or a positive amount.

Prior gifts, portability and GST

Post-1976 taxable gifts; they consume the federal exclusion. South Dakota has no gift tax.Enter 0 or a positive amount.
Federal portability only; South Dakota has no state exclusion to port.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

  • South Dakota has no estate or inheritance tax. The former South Dakota estate tax was a pick-up tax tied to the federal state death tax credit under IRC 2011; it is $0 for deaths after 2004 (VERIFY effective repeal date). There is no South Dakota inheritance tax and no gift tax, so only federal transfer taxes apply.
  • Federal estate tax 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. South Dakota is a common-law state, so no halving of community assets and no double basis step-up.
  • Portability is federal only. A surviving spouse may inherit the unused federal exclusion (DSUE) with a timely Form 706 election; there is no South Dakota state exclusion to port.
  • Elective share. A surviving spouse may elect one-third of the net estate under SDCL 29A-2-201 et seq. (VERIFY); modeled here on the net estate.
  • Small estates. The small-estate affidavit is available where personal property is $25,000 or less; verify the current figure.
  • Binding factor names what controls the result: the federal basic exclusion, the federal unified schedule, or the GST.
  • Gifting mode uses the guarded bisection solver (60 expansions, 90 iterations, rounded up). Because only the federal exclusion applies, the solver targets that single exclusion.
  • Gifting is not free. Carryover basis loses the step-up; the deferred gain is netted against the tax saved.

Sources

  • Former South Dakota estate tax (pick-up tied to the federal state death tax credit under IRC 2011; $0 for deaths after 2004; VERIFY effective repeal date); no South Dakota inheritance tax or gift tax.
  • SDCL 29A-2-201 et seq. (spousal elective share of one-third of the augmented estate; VERIFY); SDCL 29A-3-1201 (small-estate affidavit, $25,000 personal property; VERIFY); probate venue in the Probate Court of the county of domicile (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 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. Minnehaha (Sioux Falls), 2025, single. Real 3,000,000; financial 2,000,000; retirement 1,000,000; debts 300,000; funeral 15,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 6,000,000; admin 114,400; deductions 449,400; net estate 5,550,600; TE 5,550,600 below 13,990,000 federal. Federal $0, SD $0, TOTAL $0. Headroom 8,439,400. Small estate NOT available (personal property 3,000,000).
TC2 – Above federal exclusion. Ada (Boise), 2025, single. Real 9,000,000; financial 6,000,000; retirement 4,000,000; business 2,000,000; debts 500,000; funeral 20,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 20,000,000; admin 390,400; deductions 930,400; net estate 19,089,600; TE 19,089,600 above 13,990,000 federal. Federal tentative 7,581,640 less credit 5,541,800 = FEDERAL 2,039,840. SD $0. TOTAL 2,039,840. Effective 10.20%.
TC3 – Above federal, marital. Kootenai (Coeur d’Alene), 2025, married 20 years, citizen spouse, bequest 5,000,000. Real 15,000,000; financial 7,000,000; life 3,000,000; debts 400,000; funeral 25,000; atty 2%; court 400.
Gross 24,000,000; admin 472,400; deductions 917,400; net estate 23,082,600; less marital 5,000,000 = TE 18,082,600; federal exclusion 13,990,000. Federal tentative 7,178,840 less credit 5,541,800 = FEDERAL 1,637,040. SD $0. TOTAL 1,637,040. Effective 6.82%. Elective share one-third = 7,694,200.
TC4 – Gifting solver, 2026, maxYears 60. Canyon (Caldwell), single. Real 8,000,000; financial 5,000,000; retirement 3,000,000; business 2,000,000; debts 300,000; funeral 20,000; atty 2%; court 400; 4 donees at 19,000.
Gross 20,000,000; admin 394,400; deductions 689,400; net estate 19,310,600; TE 19,310,600 above 15,000,000 federal. FEDERAL 1,724,240. SD $0. Solver must reach the federal exclusion 15,000,000: 76,000/yr requires 57 YEARS (removes 4,332,000 leaving TE 14,978,600), tax $0. Saved 1,724,240.
TC5 – Small estate. Ada (Boise), 2025, married 5 years, citizen spouse. Financial 20,000; retirement 4,000; debts 1,000; funeral 2,000; atty 2%; court 300.
Gross 24,000; admin 760; deductions 4,760; net estate 19,240; TE 19,240 below both exclusions. Federal $0, SD $0, TOTAL $0. Small estate available (personal property 24,000 at or below 25,000). Elective share one-third = 6,413.

Estimates only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. The South Dakota elective share and small-estate figure are flagged for verification against SDCL 29A-2-201 et seq. and 29A-3-1201. Verify all figures with the South Dakota Department of Revenue and federal rules before relying on them.

What Is a South Dakota Estate Tax Calculator?

This South Dakota estate tax calculator estimates the federal transfer taxes produced by an estate profile while assigning $0 to South Dakota estate and inheritance tax. It builds a net estate from entered assets and expenses, applies eligible deductions, adds prior taxable gifts to the federal base, and compares that base with the applicable federal exclusion.

The calculator determines estimated federal estate tax and GST tax from the financial information you provide. It accounts for estate assets, debts, modeled administration costs, marital and charitable deductions, prior taxable gifts, federal DSUE, direct skips, and optional annual-exclusion gifting before displaying the total transfer tax.

Three modes are available. Estate mode calculates the entered estate. Headroom mode tests the estate against the federal exclusion and reports remaining headroom. Gifting mode searches for the number of modeled gifting years needed to make the calculated total transfer tax reach zero.

How the South Dakota Estate Tax Calculation Works

The calculation starts by adding real property, financial accounts, retirement accounts and annuities, life insurance, and business or other property.

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

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

Administration costs combine the entered attorney and executor percentage with Probate Court and other costs. Although the field label calls the percentage a fee on the net estate, the code applies it to gross estate minus debts.

A=max⁡(G−D,0)×p100+CA=\max(G-D,0)\times\frac{p}{100}+C

The net estate then subtracts debts, funeral expenses, administration costs, and casualty or theft losses.

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

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

If gifting is modeled, the calculator reduces the remaining estate by the smaller of the entered gift per donee or its annual-exclusion amount. It uses $18,000 for 2024 and $19,000 for 2025 and 2026.

Gr=min⁡(g,e)×n×yG_r=\min(g,e)\times n\times y

In this formula, g is the entered gift per donee, e is the encoded annual exclusion, n is the number of donees, and y is the number of years.

TE=max⁡(N−M−Ch−Gr,0)TE=\max(N-M-C_h-G_r,0)

Earlier taxable gifts are then added to create the federal tax base.

BF=TE+PB_F=TE+P

The federal applicable exclusion equals the selected year’s basic exclusion plus entered DSUE. The code uses $13,610,000 for 2024, $13,990,000 for 2025, and $15,000,000 for 2026.

EF=EB+DSUEE_F=E_B+DSUE

If the federal base exceeds that exclusion, the calculator applies its progressive 18% to 40% federal schedule. Federal estate tax equals the schedule tax on the federal base minus the schedule tax on the applicable exclusion.

TF=max⁡(SF(BF)−SF(EF),0)T_F=\max\left(S_F(B_F)-S_F(E_F),0\right)

South Dakota estate tax and inheritance tax are both fixed at $0 in the code. GST is calculated separately at 40% of direct skips remaining after the entered GST exemption allocation.

TGST=0.40×max⁡(Direct Skips−GST Exemption,0)T_{GST}=0.40\times\max(\text{Direct Skips}-\text{GST Exemption},0)
TTotal=TF+TGSTT_{Total}=T_F+T_{GST}

Worked Example

Suppose a hypothetical 2025 estate contains $8,000,000 of real property, $6,000,000 of financial assets, $4,000,000 of retirement assets, and $2,000,000 of business interests. Enter $500,000 of debts, $20,000 of funeral expenses, a 2% attorney and executor fee, and $400 of Probate Court costs.

Gross estate is $20,000,000. Administration costs are ($20,000,000 − $500,000) × 2% + $400 = $390,400. Total deductions are $910,400, leaving a net estate of $19,089,600. With no spouse deduction, charity, gifting, or prior taxable gifts, the federal base is also $19,089,600.

The encoded federal schedule produces $7,581,640 of tentative tax on that base. The schedule tax on the calculator’s $13,990,000 exclusion is $5,541,800. Federal estate tax is therefore $2,039,840. With South Dakota tax and GST both at $0, total transfer tax is $2,039,840, or 10.20% of the gross estate.

How to Use the South Dakota Estate Tax Calculator

  1. Choose estate-tax calculation, larger-estate testing, or the gifting-years solver.
  2. Select the death year from 2024, 2025, or 2026 and choose a county from the county-of-domicile menu.
  3. Enter real property, financial accounts, retirement assets, life insurance, and business or other property.
  4. Enter debts, funeral expenses, the attorney and executor fee percentage, Probate Court costs, and casualty or theft losses.
  5. Enter any surviving-spouse and charitable bequests. Select the spouse citizenship or QDOT settings when applicable.
  6. Enter earlier taxable gifts, federal DSUE, direct skips, and any GST exemption allocation.
  7. For gifting analysis, enter the donee count, annual gift per donee, unrealized gain, capital-gains-rate option, NIIT choice, and maximum years to test.
  8. Select the acknowledgment checkbox and use the calculation button.

The standard result is total transfer tax. Detailed results also include federal estate tax, GST, federal exclusion and headroom, gross and net estate amounts, deductions, effective tax rate, marginal-rate display, estimated amounts to other heirs, small-estate status, elective-share estimate, filing indicators, and gifting projections.

Important Assumptions and Calculator Limitations

South Dakota Tax Is Always $0 in This Calculator

The calculation explicitly sets South Dakota estate tax and inheritance tax to zero. Earlier taxable gifts therefore affect the federal base only. Federal DSUE increases only the federal applicable exclusion, and the result describes a South Dakota state exclusion as not applicable.

Federal Headroom and Tax-Free Ceiling

Remaining federal headroom is the applicable exclusion minus the federal base, floored at zero. The calculator then adds that headroom to gross estate to produce its tax-free ceiling for the entered estate profile.

H=max⁡(EF−BF,0)H=\max(E_F-B_F,0)
Tax-Free Ceiling=G+H\text{Tax-Free Ceiling}=G+H

This ceiling assumes the other entered values remain unchanged. It is a result of the calculator’s current profile rather than a separate future-value forecast.

Gifting Above the Encoded Annual Exclusion

The form says amounts above the annual exclusion become taxable gifts. However, the implemented gifting calculation simply caps the effective gift at $18,000 or $19,000 per donee. It does not automatically add any excess gift to the earlier-taxable-gifts input. Users would have to enter prior taxable gifts separately for them to affect the federal base.

Gifting Solver

The solver searches for the first whole number of gifting years that makes total transfer tax zero, up to the entered maximum. The maximum-years field allows values from 1 through 100. Because GST does not change when the gifting reduction is applied, positive GST can prevent the solver from reaching zero even after federal estate tax disappears.

The number-of-donees field is labeled as requiring one or more donees in gifting mode, but its implemented range validation accepts 0 through 200. A value of zero therefore produces no annual estate reduction.

Capital-Gains Gifting Outputs

The form collects unrealized gain in gifted assets, a 0%, 15%, or 20% long-term capital-gains-rate selection, and an optional 3.8% NIIT setting. However, the calculation result passed to the display does not contain the entered appreciation value. As implemented, the displayed deferred capital-gains cost and net-benefit amounts therefore format as $0 rather than reflecting that input.

Small-Estate and Elective-Share Displays

The calculator marks a small estate when financial accounts, retirement assets, life insurance, and business or other personal property total $25,000 or less. Real property is excluded from that calculation. The $25,000 amount is flagged for verification in the calculator.

If the decedent is marked married, the elective-share display equals one-third of the calculated net estate. The calculator describes this as its model of the South Dakota elective share and flags the underlying rule for verification.

County Menu Limitation in This Revision

The county field is labeled for South Dakota domicile, but the supplied revision’s selectable names and internal county labels largely contain places such as Ada County (Boise), Canyon County (Caldwell), Kootenai County, and other Idaho locations. The selected value affects the displayed Probate Court venue, not the tax calculation. This county list should therefore not be relied on as a South Dakota venue directory.

Most monetary inputs accept $0 through $100,000,000. The attorney and executor fee accepts 0% through 25%. The donee count accepts 0 through 200, while maximum gifting years accepts 1 through 100. Currency outputs are rounded to whole dollars, and the effective tax rate is displayed to two decimal places.

Estate Tax Calculators for All 50 U.S. States

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does this calculator charge South Dakota estate tax?

No. The calculator sets South Dakota estate tax to $0 for every supported death year. It also sets South Dakota inheritance tax to $0. The total transfer-tax result therefore comes from federal estate tax and any federal GST calculated from the user’s inputs.

What federal exclusions does the calculator use?

The code uses $13,610,000 for 2024, $13,990,000 for 2025, and $15,000,000 for 2026. Any DSUE amount entered is added to that year’s basic exclusion to produce the calculator’s total federal applicable exclusion.

How are prior taxable gifts handled?

Earlier taxable gifts are added to the federal base after the calculator subtracts deductions and any modeled annual-exclusion gifting. They do not increase the displayed gross estate, but they can increase federal estate tax and reduce the remaining federal exclusion headroom.

How does the calculator determine the effective tax rate?

The effective rate is total transfer tax divided by gross estate. Total transfer tax includes federal estate tax and GST because the South Dakota tax amounts are fixed at zero. If gross estate is zero, the calculator returns an effective rate of zero.

Effective Rate=TTotalG×100%\text{Effective Rate}=\frac{T_{Total}}{G}\times100\%

When does the calculator mark Form 706 as required?

The calculator marks federal Form 706 as required when its federal base is greater than the applicable federal exclusion. It always reports that a South Dakota estate-tax return is not required. These are calculator decision rules and are not an independent determination of every possible filing obligation.

How does annual gifting affect the estate calculation?

The calculator multiplies the effective annual gift per donee by the number of donees and gifting years, then subtracts that amount before adding earlier taxable gifts. The effective per-donee amount cannot exceed the calculator’s $18,000 exclusion for 2024 or $19,000 exclusion for 2025 and 2026.

What does “net to other heirs” represent?

The calculator starts with the net estate and subtracts the modeled marital deduction, charitable deduction, and total transfer tax. If the result would be negative, it displays zero. Administration costs are already included when the net estate is calculated, so they are not deducted again.

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