Estate Tax Calculator

How the Estate Tax Is Computed

For deaths on or after 1 January 2018, Section 84 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as amended by Republic Act No. 10963 (RA 10963), the TRAIN law, sets the estate tax at 6% of the net estate. The steps are:

1. Add up everything the person owned when they died: land, buildings, cars, bank deposits, shares, money owed to them. Land and buildings count at the BIR zonal value or the assessor's fair market value, whichever is higher. If they were married, include the whole of what the couple owned together (conjugal or community property).
2. Subtract the debts and unpaid mortgages (Section 86(A)).
3. Subtract the ₱5,000,000 standard deduction, which every citizen or resident gets without proof.
4. Subtract the family home, up to ₱10,000,000. If the couple owned it together, only the half of the person who died counts.
5. Subtract the surviving spouse's share: half of the conjugal or community property, after the debts charged to it (Section 86(C)). That half was never theirs to pass on.
6. Multiply what is left by 6%.

For a death before 1 January 2018, the older graduated rates and deductions apply, and this calculator does not fit.

Deductions That Need Papers

• Debts the person owed (claims against the estate). A loan or debt is deductible only if the debt document was notarized. A loan taken within three years before death also needs a statement of how the money was used.
• Family home. The BIR asks for a certificate from the barangay captain that it was the actual home of the person who died and the family at the time of death.
• Unpaid mortgages. Bring the loan documents and a statement of the balance at the date of death.

Funeral, medical and court (judicial) expenses can no longer be deducted since the TRAIN law. Other deductions exist for property already taxed in a recent estate or donation, gifts to the government for public use, and benefits under RA 4917; the calculator leaves those out.

Deadlines and Payment

The heirs, or the executor (the person a will names to handle the property), file BIR Form 1801 and pay within one year of the death. The BIR may extend the filing by up to 30 days for good reason. If there is not enough cash in what was left, the tax may be paid in installments within two years from the due date without penalty or interest (NIRC Section 91).

A bank that learns of a depositor's death may let the heirs withdraw from the account after withholding a 6% final tax (NIRC Section 97). Once the tax is paid, the BIR issues its go-signal for the transfer (an eCAR) for each property. The heirs can then transfer titles after they settle what was left, for example by an Extrajudicial Settlement (an agreement among the heirs, signed before a notary) if there is no will and no unpaid debts.

If the heirs disagree, or there is a will that a court must approve (probate), the matter goes to court. That needs a lawyer. The Public Attorney's Office helps people who qualify.