New York Estate Tax Calculator (2026 Exemption Limits & Inheritance Liabilities)

New York sets its estate tax exemption at $7,350,000, but the state is best known among estate planners for what happens once an estate exceeds it: New York's exemption phases out entirely once an estate reaches 105% of the threshold, so an estate just barely over that line can lose the benefit of the exemption altogether rather than simply paying tax on the excess.

Below that cliff, rates run from 3.06% up to 16% on the taxable portion, a wider range than most of the other eleven states with their own estate tax.

That cliff effect makes New York's system meaningfully different from flat-rate states like Connecticut or Vermont, where crossing the exemption line by even a small amount only exposes the excess to tax, not the entire estate.

New York does not levy a separate inheritance tax, so the estate-level calculation is the only state death tax a beneficiary needs to track. But the cliff means the gap between an estate valued just under 105% of the exemption and one valued just over it can be far larger in tax terms than the dollar difference between them.

The calculator starts from two numbers you enter: the gross estate at fair market value, and the marital, charitable, and administrative deductions the estate can claim. It subtracts the second from the first to get the net estate, then applies New York's own schedule to that figure. Nothing else feeds the result.

New York's exclusion is not subtracted from the estate. Form ET-706 applies a fifteen-step table, running from 3.06% to 16%, to the whole New York taxable estate, and then allows a credit equal to the table value of the exclusion. What makes New York distinctive is that the exclusion feeding that credit is phased down linearly to zero between $7,350,000 and 105% of that figure, $7,717,500. At or above $7,717,500 the credit is gone entirely and the full table amount is owed on the whole estate.

1. Value the gross estate at fair market value on the date of death.
2. Subtract allowable deductions to reach the net estate.
3. Below $7,350,000, stop. The credit covers the whole table amount and the tax is $0.
4. Between $7,350,000 and $7,717,500, phase the exclusion down. At $7,500,000 the exclusion has fallen to about 59% of its full value, so only part of the credit survives.
5. At or above $7,717,500, drop the credit to zero and run the table against the entire net estate.
6. Subtract the tax from the net estate.

This is why planners call it a cliff. A $7,350,000 estate owes nothing; $7,500,000 owes $386,400; $7,717,500 owes $734,780. The last $217,500 of estate value carries $348,380 of additional tax, an implied marginal rate above 160%, which is the practical reason New York estates near the line often make a charitable bequest to fall back under it.

That is the entire computation. The calculator does not carry over a deceased spouse's unused exemption, add back lifetime taxable gifts, apply the generation-skipping transfer tax, discount closely held interests, or figure the separate federal return. Those sit under "What This Does Not Account For" below, not in the math above.

1. Start with the gross estate. This example uses a $5,000,000 gross estate: the fair market value of all property, business interests, equities, cash, and life insurance the decedent owned at death, before deductions.
2. Compare against New York's exemption. New York taxes estates only above $7,350,000; the $5,000,000 estate sits at or below that threshold, so none of it is taxable.
3. Taxable estate above exemption. $5,000,000 minus the $7,350,000 exemption leaves nothing above the line, so the taxable estate above the exemption is $0.
4. Compute the tax due. With nothing above the exemption, the calculator returns $0.00 in New York estate tax, even though New York's top bracket reaches 16.0% above the threshold.
5. Distribute the net estate. The full $5,000,000.00 gross estate passes to beneficiaries undiminished.
6. What this leaves out. This is New York's state-level result only; federal estate tax is assessed separately under IRC § 2010.

New York's exemption is not a deduction. It is a credit that phases out linearly between the exemption and 105% of it, and above that line it is gone entirely. The sweep across estate value shows what that produces, and it is the sharpest threshold anywhere in this corpus.

At $7,350,000, the exemption exactly. The tax is $0.00 and the whole estate passes to heirs.

At $7,350,100, one hundred dollars later. The tax is $285.60. The applicable credit has already begun phasing down, so that $100 of estate value carried $285.60 of tax with it.

At $7,460,000. The tax is $290,960.00, an effective rate of 3.90% on the whole estate. The estate has grown $110,000 past the exemption and the tax has grown by $290,674.40.

At $7,600,000. The tax is $592,000.00, an effective rate of 7.79%.

At $7,717,400, one hundred dollars short of the cliff. The tax is $734,705.20.

At $7,717,500, the cliff itself. The tax is $734,780.00, an effective rate of 9.52%. The credit has phased to zero and the full table amount now applies with no offset at all.

What that band costs per unit. Between $7,350,000 and $7,717,500 the estate grows by $367,500 and the tax grows by $734,780.00. Every additional $1,000 of estate value inside that band costs $1,999.40 of New York estate tax, a marginal rate of very nearly 200%. Above the cliff the marginal rate collapses to the ordinary table: from $8,350,000 to $8,351,000 the tax moves from $822,800.00 to $822,944.00, so each further $1,000 costs $144.00.

The reverse question, and it is the most valuable figure on this page. An estate of $7,717,500 owes $734,780.00. Enter $367,500 of allowable deductions against that same estate and the tax falls to $0.00, with the full $7,350,000 passing to heirs. $367,500 of charitable or marital deduction is therefore worth $734,780.00 of New York tax inside the phase-out band, a return of $2.00 for every dollar deducted. Nowhere else on this page does a deduction return more than its own face value.

Right method against wrong method. Treating the exemption as a deduction and taxing only the excess is the standard error. On the $7,717,500 estate that method applies the table's lowest bands to $367,500 of excess and lands two orders of magnitude below the engine's $734,780.00. The exemption never subtracts from the base at all: the engine applies the table to the whole estate and then subtracts a credit that, at 105% of the exemption, has already phased to zero.

What the engine does not compute. It applies no marital or charitable deduction of its own, taking whatever you enter in the deductions field at face value with no eligibility test. It models no portability of a deceased spouse's unused exclusion, applies no gift add-back for taxable gifts made within three years of death, and computes no federal estate tax. The $15,000,000-plus federal exemption for 2026 is assessed on Form 706 entirely separately from every figure above.

• Portability of a deceased spouse's unused exemption. Most states with an estate tax, including this one, do not allow it at the state level, and the calculator does not apply it in either direction.
• Lifetime taxable gifts added back into the taxable estate, and any QTIP election, credit shelter trust, or state QTIP decoupling that would change what the taxable estate actually is.
• Valuation discounts for minority or non-marketable interests in closely held entities. Enter the discounted value yourself if the appraisal supports one.
• Federal generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax under IRC Chapter 13.
• Ancillary probate requirements for real property situated in other jurisdictions.
• Complex liquidity discounts for minority non-voting family business entities.
• State-specific inheritance taxes levied directly on beneficiaries (e.g. PA, NJ, MD, KY, NE).

• Assuming State Exemption Matches Federal: Forgetting that states like Oregon ($1.0M) and Massachusetts ($2.0M) tax estates far below the federal threshold.
• The "Cliff" Effect in Specific States: Failing to recognize that states like New York eliminate the exemption entirely if the estate exceeds 105% of the threshold.
• Out-of-State Real Property Exposure: Holding real estate in states with active estate taxes exposes non-resident estates to proportional state estate taxes.
• Failing to Fund Revocable Living Trusts: Assets held outside trust structures are subjected to public probate proceedings and statutory executor fees.

• New York State Department of Taxation and Finance: Estate Tax Guidance (2026). tax.ny.gov