Most Americans do not need to worry about a state estate or inheritance tax. But a few states do have these kinds of taxes, which are levied on people who either owned property in the state where they lived (estate tax) or inherited property from someone who lived there (inheritance tax).
Sometimes, you could end up paying inheritance tax to another state if you inherit from someone who lived in one of the few states with an inheritance tax.
States With Estate Taxes
As of April 2024, only these northern states have an estate tax based on the size of the estate and exclude estates below a certain exclusion amount.
- Connecticut ($12,920,000) (website)
- Illinois ($4,000,000)(website)
- Hawaii ($5,490,000) (website)
- Maine ($6,410,000) (website)
- Maryland ($5,000,000) (website)
- Massachusetts ($1,000,000) (website)
- Minnesota ($3,000,000) (website)
- New York ($6,580,00) (website)
- Oregon ($1,000,000) (website)
- Rhode Island ($1,733,246) (website)
- Vermont ($5,000,000) (website)
- Washington ($2,193,000) (website)
- Washington D.C. ($4,710,000) (website)
States With Inheritance Tax
A few states further south impose an inheritance tax on the person who inherits based on the value of what you inherited and how closely related you were to the deceased person.
- Iowa - (website)
- Kentucky - (website)
- Maryland - (website)
- Nebraska - (website)
- New Jersey - (website)
- Pennsylvania - (website)
States With Both
Only Maryland imposes both.
Repealed Estate Taxes
Several states have recently repealed their estate taxes.
- Delaware (2018)
- New Jersey (2018, but they still have an inheritance tax)
- Ohio (2013)
- Tennessee (2016)
Federal Estate Tax
Finally, there could also be a federal estate tax bill, but only if the deceased person left more than $13,610,000 in assets.
Click on the state-specific article below to learn how inheritance and estate taxes are handled in your state.
