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For someone dying in 2026 the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000, so an estate below that owes no federal estate tax. A married couple can shelter $30,000,000 between them. Separately, $19,000 per recipient per year can be given away without touching that exclusion at all, and the rate above it is 40%.
Reviewed by Dylan, finance analyst. Figures last checked against the source publications on 2026-09-28.
| Basic exclusion amount | $15,000,000 | Per person, estates of decedents dying in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Effective exclusion for a married couple | $30,000,000 | Requires portability to be elected on the first death |
| Annual gift exclusion | $19,000 | Per recipient, per year, with no lifetime limit on the number of recipients |
| Annual exclusion — non-citizen spouse | $194,000 | Gifts to a spouse who is not a US citizen |
| Generation-skipping transfer exemption | $15,000,000 | A separate exemption, not part of the estate exclusion |
| Top estate and gift tax rate | 40% | Applied to the amount above the exclusion |
The $15,000,000 is not an estate-only figure. Lifetime gifts above the annual exclusion consume it as you go, and what remains at death shelters the estate. Giving away $3,000,000 in taxable gifts leaves $12,000,000 for the estate, not $15,000,000.
This is why the annual exclusion matters so much more than its size suggests. A gift inside $19,000 per recipient does not count as a taxable gift, does not consume any of the exclusion and needs no return. The limit is per recipient, so a couple with three children can move $114,000 in a year — $19,000 each, from each of them — without touching the lifetime figure.
Each spouse has their own $15,000,000. An unused portion of the first spouse's exclusion can be transferred to the survivor, but only if portability is elected — which requires filing an estate tax return on the first death, even when no tax is due and no return would otherwise be required.
Missing that filing is the single most expensive administrative error in this area. It converts a $30,000,000 shelter into a $15,000,000 one, and the deadline for electing it is not indefinite.
The figure is not an inflation adjustment of the previous year's number. Section 70106 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act amended the statute directly to set the basic exclusion at $15,000,000 for calendar year 2026, replacing the scheduled reduction that had been expected at the end of 2025.
From 2027 onward it returns to being adjusted for inflation, so the figure will drift upward in the ordinary way rather than stepping again.
Transfers that skip a generation — to grandchildren, or to a trust for them — face their own tax with its own $15,000,000 exemption. The two exemptions are equal in 2026 but they are not the same allowance, and using one does not use the other.
The generation-skipping tax exists to stop a fortune passing through several generations while being taxed once. It is the part of this area most likely to surprise someone who has read only about the estate exclusion.
These are the federal figures. Several states levy their own estate or inheritance tax at thresholds far below $15,000,000 — in some cases around $1,000,000 — so an estate owing nothing federally can still owe at state level.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Estate planning turns on the specific assets, the state, marital status and the documents actually in place, and it is an area where the cost of getting it wrong falls on people who cannot fix it afterwards.
The basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person for someone dying in 2026, so an estate below that owes no federal estate tax. The rate on the amount above it is 40%.
$19,000 per recipient per year, with no limit on the number of recipients. Gifts inside it do not use the lifetime exclusion and need no return, so a couple with three children can move $114,000 in one year.
Yes, but not automatically. The unused part of the first spouse's $15,000,000 passes to the survivor only if portability is elected by filing an estate tax return on the first death, even when no tax is due.
It is a separate $15,000,000 exemption for transfers that skip a generation, such as gifts to grandchildren. Using it does not use the estate exclusion, and using the estate exclusion does not use it.
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Figures sourced from IRS — Revenue Procedure 2025-32, sections 3.14 and 4.42, IRS — Estate tax, IRS — Frequently asked questions on gift taxes.
Figures on this page apply to the years stated beside them and were last checked against the source publications on 2026-09-28 by Dylan, finance analyst. This page is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.