Illinois estate tax chart

Date: 2026-07-13
Educational only — not legal or tax advice. Compare to IL AG calculator and illinois-estate-tax-computation.

Assumptions

Input Value
Calculator ~/.cursor/skills/illinois-estate-tax/scripts/il_estate_tax.py
Mode current_law (35 ILCS 405; IRC §2011 as of 12/31/2001 + $4M IL exclusion)
Form 700 line 1 Tentative taxable estate (varies below)
QTIP (line 2) $0
Adjusted taxable gifts (line 4) $0
Illinois situs 100% (default; lines 7–9 not overridden)
Death date 2026-01-01 (2013+ law metadata)

Estate sizes: $3,800,000 through $10,000,000, step $400,000 (17 points; $10,000,000 included as endpoint).

Data

Estate (line 1) IL estate tax
$3,800,000 $0
$4,200,000 $57,143
$4,600,000 $171,428
$5,000,000 $285,714
$5,400,000 $392,446
$5,800,000 $434,643
$6,200,000 $477,500
$6,600,000 $520,357
$7,000,000 $565,603
$7,400,000 $610,993
$7,800,000 $656,690
$8,200,000 $704,577
$8,600,000 $752,465
$9,000,000 $801,049
$9,400,000 $851,399
$9,800,000 $901,748
$10,000,000 $926,923

Chart

Tentative taxable estate on x-axis ($1,000,000); Illinois estate tax on y-axis ($1,000s).

xychart-beta
    title "Illinois estate tax vs tentative taxable estate (100% IL situs, current law)"
    x-axis "Estate value ($1,000,000)" ["3.8", "4.2", "4.6", "5.0", "5.4", "5.8", "6.2", "6.6", "7.0", "7.4", "7.8", "8.2", "8.6", "9.0", "9.4", "9.8", "10.0"]
    y-axis "IL tax ($1,000s)" 0 --> 1000
    line [0, 57, 171, 286, 392, 435, 478, 520, 566, 611, 657, 705, 752, 801, 851, 902, 927]

%% Full series (estate → tax): 3800000→0, 4200000→57143, 4600000→171428, 5000000→285714, 5400000→392446, 5800000→434643, 6200000→477500, 6600000→520357, 7000000→565603, 7400000→610993, 7800000→656690, 8200000→704577, 8600000→752465, 9000000→801049, 9400000→851399, 9800000→901748, 10000000→926923

Interpretation

  • No tax below $4M: At $3.8M tentative taxable estate, Illinois tax is $0 — consistent with the $4,000,000 Illinois exclusion under current law.
  • Tax begins above $4M: From $4.2M, tax is ~$57k and rises in roughly ~$114k per $400k of estate through $5.0M (~6.9% of the increment in that band), reflecting the legacy state death tax credit table plus interrelated iteration while the federal 40% cap binds.
  • Kink near $5.4M: Growth slows after $5.0M ($5.0M→$5.4M adds ~$107k, not $114k); from $5.4M onward the marginal step is **$40–50k per $400k** (~1% effective on increments) when the federal cap no longer applies.
  • Upper range: Tax continues to climb roughly linearly at that slower marginal rate; $10M endpoint is $926,923 (~9.3% of $10M tentative estate in this scenario).

Related: hb2368 (proposed flat-rate reform, not enacted).