Estate Tax Exemption 2026: The New Amount, Explained

The 2026 federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person. The 2025 tax law set that amount and removed the drop that had been scheduled for 2026.

For years, estate planning ran on a countdown. The higher exemption from the 2017 tax law was set to expire after 2025, and owners were told to act before it fell roughly in half. That sunset never happened. The 2025 tax law raised the exemption instead, made inflation adjustments start again from the new amount, and struck the provision that was going to shrink it. Here is what the estate tax exemption in 2026 means for your plan.

What is the estate tax exemption in 2026?

The IRS calls it the basic exclusion amount. For the 2026 tax year it is $15,000,000 per person. It shelters otherwise taxable transfers, across lifetime gifts and your estate, from federal estate and gift tax. Annual exclusion gifts, gifts to a spouse or charity that qualify for a deduction, and portability can let you transfer more without that tax. Above the exclusion, the top federal estate tax rate is 40%.

The same exclusion covers taxable lifetime gifts and your estate, so gifts that use it reduce what is left at death. Qualifying gifts of up to $19,000 per recipient in 2026 fall under the annual exclusion and do not use it. To qualify, a gift generally has to give the recipient the right to use it now, which matters for gifts into a trust. Tuition paid directly to a qualifying school and qualifying medical expenses paid directly to the provider also do not use it, though medical costs reimbursed by insurance do not qualify. The separate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption is also $15,000,000 per person for 2026. That tax can apply to certain transfers to grandchildren or later generations, outright or through trusts.

The planning question is no longer whether to beat a deadline. It is whether your estate will grow past the exemption.

Basic exclusion amount

The amount of otherwise taxable lifetime gifts and estate value each person can pass free of federal estate and gift tax.

Portability

An election that lets a surviving spouse add the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to their own.

DSUE amount

The deceased spousal unused exclusion amount: the unused exclusion portability carries over, generally from the surviving spouse's most recently deceased spouse. Special rules apply if more than one spouse has died.

Annual gift exclusion

The amount you can give each person each year in qualifying present-interest gifts without using your lifetime exclusion.

Did the estate tax exemption sunset?

No, not under current law. The 2017 tax law doubled the exemption only for 2018 through 2025, after which it was scheduled to return to its lower base. The 2025 tax law, signed July 4, 2025, replaced that structure. It set the base at $15,000,000 for estates of people dying and gifts made after December 31, 2025, restarted the inflation adjustment from that base, and removed the provision that limited the higher amount to 2025.

Congress can always change estate tax law again. That is true of every tax rule, and it is a reason to review your plan when the law changes, not a deadline to act on now.

How does the exemption work for married couples?

Each spouse has their own $15,000,000 exclusion. Assets left to a surviving spouse who is a U.S. citizen generally qualify for the unlimited marital deduction, so the first spouse's exclusion often goes unused at the first death.

Portability keeps that unused amount from being lost. If the executor elects portability, the surviving spouse can add the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to their own. The election is made on a timely filed federal estate tax return, Form 706, even if no tax is owed. For estates that were not otherwise required to file, the IRS allows the return to be filed up to the fifth anniversary of the death under a simplified procedure. Portability applies to the estate and gift tax exclusion, not to the generation-skipping exemption.

Who has to file a federal estate tax return?

For a death in 2026, the executor must file Form 706 if the gross estate, plus adjusted taxable gifts and any specific exemption, is more than $15,000,000. The return is due 9 months after the date of death. Many estates below that line still file, solely to elect portability.

Does Oklahoma have an estate tax?

No. Oklahoma's estate tax was repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2010. Some other states have their own estate or inheritance taxes, often with much lower thresholds, so owners with property or residence in another state should check that state's rules.

What should you review now that the countdown is gone?

Plans drafted around the old sunset deserve a second look.

• Formula clauses. Many wills and trusts send "the maximum amount that can pass free of estate tax" to a family or bypass trust. With a $15,000,000 exclusion, that formula may now put far more, or everything, in that trust and less directly in your spouse's hands than you intended. Ask your attorney to check.
• Gifts made to beat the deadline. Gifts already made stay made. Assets you give away generally carry your tax basis, while inherited assets generally take a basis equal to their value at death, which can raise or lower it. For appreciated assets in an estate comfortably under the exclusion, that trade-off now matters more.
• Business growth. An estate under the exclusion today can be over it after a sale or years of growth. For owners, that is the planning trigger now. See estate planning basics before a transaction and the estate checklist after a business sale.
• Liquidity for an estate that will owe tax. If the business is most of the estate, see how family business owners plan for where the tax cash comes from.

Anchor provides tax strategy and coordination, not legal documents or tax filing. Your estate planning attorney drafts and updates the documents, and your CPA or the estate's preparer files the returns.