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New Hampshire Estate Tax Guide
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New Hampshire Estate Tax Guide

New Hampshire charges no estate tax and no inheritance tax. RSA 86 was repealed for 2003 deaths, and RSA 87 self-voided for deaths from 2005 on.

By Settled Editorial

New Hampshire charges no estate tax and no inheritance tax. A New Hampshire estate owes no death tax to anyone unless it crosses the federal exclusion, which is $15,000,000 for a death during 2026. The one state tax an estate here is likely to meet is the real estate transfer tax under RSA 78-B, and an heir does not pay that either.

The reasoning behind that answer is worth getting right, because the sentence people repeat, that New Hampshire repealed its estate tax, is false. Two chapters produced the result, by two different mechanisms, on two different dates. This guide walks through both, then the federal return that does apply, then the transfer tax that lands only when the estate sells.

Does New Hampshire Have an Estate Tax? No

RSA 87, "Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates", is still printed in the Revised Statutes Annotated with its sections intact. RSA 87:1, I imposes an estate tax on the transfer of the estate of every decedent whose estate is subject to federal estate tax and who owns property in this state. RSA 87:1, II then sets the amount at "the maximum federal estate tax credit allowable for state death taxes with respect to property subject to this state's jurisdiction to impose a tax."

That single sentence makes RSA 87 a sponge tax, also called a pick-up tax. It carries no rate of its own and no exemption of its own. It collects only what federal law hands back through the credit. RSA 87:7 states the point plainly: the intent of the chapter is "to obtain for this state the benefit of the credit allowed" under federal law.

RSA 87:9 supplies the switch that turned it off. The section is headed "Chapter Void, When", and it says the chapter "shall become void and of no effect in respect to the estates of persons who die subsequent to the effective date of the repeal of the federal estate tax provisions within the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or that portion of such provisions that allow a credit for state death taxes."

Congress phased that credit out and replaced it with a deduction for state death taxes, now at 26 U.S.C. Section 2058, for deaths after December 31, 2004. RSA 87:9 did the rest by itself. No New Hampshire legislature had to vote on anything. For deaths on or after January 1, 2005, the chapter is void and raises nothing.

The Department of Revenue Administration reaches the same place in its own words on its Inheritance and Estate Tax page: "For deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2005, the NH Estate Tax return is not required to be filed due to the federal repeal of the estate death tax credit." Notice what the agency does not say. It never claims the tax was repealed, and it attributes the result to the federal change, which is exactly the RSA 87:9 mechanism.

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Does New Hampshire Have an Inheritance Tax? No, Not Since 2003

RSA 86, "Taxation of Legacies and Successions", was the inheritance tax, and it is gone. Its chapter page in the RSA now prints a single line: Chapter 86 Repealed, "Entire Chapter was repealed [Repealed 2002, 232:14, II, eff. Jan. 1, 2003.]" Its companion chapter, RSA 89, the "Transfer Tax Upon the Personal Property of Nonresident Decedents", went out in the same act at 2002, 232:14, III, on the same date.

So a child, sibling, niece, nephew or friend who inherits from a New Hampshire estate owes New Hampshire nothing on the inheritance itself. Two cross-border situations still deserve a look:

  • If you inherit from someone who lived in a state that does levy an inheritance tax, that state can tax you even though you live in New Hampshire.
  • If a New Hampshire resident owned real estate in a state that levies its own estate tax, that state can reach the property inside its borders, which is a common reason an estate files in more than one place.

Watch out for the state's own archived tax page

The Department of Revenue Administration keeps an older frequently asked questions page about the legacy and succession tax. It opens with the repeal notice, then keeps a full body of present-tense text underneath, including a table that lists brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins as taxable legatees, and a reference to filing Form DP-145 within nine months of death.

Read past the header sentence and you would conclude New Hampshire taxes inheritances passing to siblings. It does not, and has not for any death on or after January 1, 2003. If a search result drops you into the middle of that page, scroll back to the top before you believe it.

No Personal Income Tax Either

RSA 77, "Taxation of Incomes", is the chapter that carried the Interest and Dividends Tax, the New Hampshire tax most people remember. Its chapter page now prints "Chapter 77 Repealed", with the note "Entire Chapter was repealed [Repealed by 2021, 91:189, II, eff. Jan. 1, 2025.]" New Hampshire never taxed wages.

For an estate that means there is normally no New Hampshire individual income tax return to file for the person who died, and no New Hampshire fiduciary return for the estate. The income tax work is federal: a final Form 1040 for the year of death, and a Form 1041 for the estate if it takes in $600 or more of gross income in a tax year.

Four chapters, four results, four dates:

TaxNew Hampshire chapterWhat happenedEffective
Inheritance (legacy and succession)RSA 86Repealed outrightDeaths on or after Jan. 1, 2003
Nonresident personal property transferRSA 89Repealed outrightDeaths on or after Jan. 1, 2003
EstateRSA 87Never repealed; voided itself under RSA 87:9Deaths on or after Jan. 1, 2005
Interest and dividendsRSA 77Repealed outrightJan. 1, 2025

The Question Survives on the Court Paperwork

An administrator who has read this far and then opens the closing forms gets a jolt, because the forms still ask about New Hampshire estate tax. That is not an error and it is not a trap. Two sections of the dormant chapter were left standing on purpose.

RSA 87:25, "Conditions of Allowance of Account or Motion for Summary Administration", says no final account or motion for summary administration "shall be allowed by the probate court until the certificate of the department of revenue administration has been filed in said court", certifying that the RSA 87 returns were filed and the tax paid. RSA 87:26 lets the executor, administrator, clerk or judge of the probate court request that certificate.

RSA 553:33, III(a)(3), the summary administration statute itself, asks the administrator to swear that no New Hampshire estate taxes are due, or that they have been paid and a certificate under RSA 87:26 has been filed with the court. Subparagraph (4) asks the parallel federal question.

For a death on or after January 1, 2005, the answer to the New Hampshire half is that no tax is due. Answer it and move on. The administrator's job at closing is unchanged by the fact that the number is zero.

The Federal Estate Tax Is the Live Question

Because New Hampshire adds nothing, the federal return is the only death tax question an ordinary estate here has to answer, and almost no estate reaches it.

The 2026 exclusion. The Internal Revenue Service puts the basic exclusion amount at $15,000,000 for a person dying during 2026, up from $13,990,000 for 2025. Only value above the exclusion is taxed, and the rate schedule at 26 U.S.C. Section 2001(c) tops out at 40 percent. To check where an estate sits against that line, run the New Hampshire estate tax calculator, which screens against the federal exclusion because New Hampshire adds no threshold of its own.

Form 706 and the deadline. The federal estate tax return is due 9 months after the date of death under 26 U.S.C. Section 6075(a). Form 4768 buys an automatic 6-month extension of time to file. It does not extend the time to pay, and interest runs on anything paid after the 9-month mark.

Portability. Federal law lets a surviving spouse add the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount to their own under 26 U.S.C. Section 2010(c)(2), which can shield up to $30,000,000 across a couple in 2026. Claiming it means filing a Form 706 for the first spouse even when no tax is owed. New Hampshire has no state exclusion to preserve alongside it, so the planning here is purely federal and simpler than it is in a state that runs its own estate tax.

Lifetime gifts. The federal gift and estate taxes share one lifetime exclusion, so large gifts made during life draw it down. For 2026 you can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year without touching the lifetime figure or filing a gift tax return, and a married couple can double that. Direct payments to a medical provider or a school for someone else, gifts to a spouse, and gifts to charity sit outside the gift tax entirely.

What counts toward the federal estate

The federal calculation starts from the gross estate, which reaches further than the assets someone owns outright:

  • Real estate, bank accounts, brokerage holdings and cash
  • Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k) plans
  • Life insurance the person owned or controlled
  • Business interests and partnership shares
  • Their share of jointly owned property
  • Trust assets they kept the power to control
  • Some gifts made within three years of death

Debts, funeral costs, administration expenses, charitable gifts and the marital deduction come off the gross estate to reach the taxable estate. That is the figure measured against the exclusion, not the headline value.

RSA 78-B: The State Tax an Estate Actually Meets

New Hampshire's real estate transfer tax is the one death-adjacent state tax that still costs money, and reading the rate wrong understates it by half.

RSA 78-B:1, I(b) sets the rate at "$.75 per $100, or fractional part thereof, of the price or consideration", with a minimum tax of $20 where the consideration is $4,000 or less. RSA 78-B:4, I and II then require the purchaser and the seller each to buy and attach the indicia of tax paid, and RSA 78-B:4, III applies the RSA 78-B:1 rate "to both the purchaser, grantee, assignee or transferee and the seller, grantor, assignor or transferor." Each side pays $0.75 per $100, so the combined burden on a sale is $1.50 per $100.

On a $400,000 sale of estate real estate, that is $3,000 from the estate and $3,000 from the buyer, $6,000 in all.

An inheritance is exempt. RSA 78-B:2, XI excludes "transfers that occur by devise or by other testamentary disposition, or by the laws regulating intestate succession and descent, or by the death of any cotenant in real estate held by joint tenancy; regardless of any consideration paid or obligation assumed by the transferee." An heir or devisee who takes the family home from a New Hampshire estate pays no transfer tax on that transfer.

A transfer on death deed is separately exempt. RSA 78-B:2, XXV excludes "a transfer on death deed under RSA 563-D, where no consideration is exchanged." New Hampshire's Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act took effect July 1, 2024, and RSA 563-D:9 is strict about the paperwork: the deed is void unless it meets the ordinary deed requirements of RSA 477:3, carries the title "Transfer on Death Deed", says the transfer happens at the owner's death, and is recorded both before that death and within 60 days of the day it was signed, in the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies. That 60-day window is the detail that voids most bad New Hampshire TOD deeds. The New Hampshire transfer on death deed guide walks through the whole form.

But the estate's sale is taxable. The exemption covers the transfer to the heir. When the estate or the heir then sells to a third party, the full rate applies to both sides. Budget for it when you plan a sale of inherited New Hampshire property.

Income Tax on Inherited Assets

New Hampshire adds no income tax to an inheritance, so what remains is federal:

  • Retirement withdrawals. Money pulled from an inherited IRA or 401(k) is ordinary income on your federal return, the same as it was for the person who died. Most non-spouse beneficiaries have to empty an inherited account within 10 years under the SECURE Act.
  • Gain on a sale. Selling inherited property for more than its basis produces a federal capital gain. Because the basis rule heirs actually use resets that basis to the date-of-death value, a sale soon after death often produces little or no gain at all.

Getting a date-of-death value on paper matters more in New Hampshire than in most states, because RSA 553:32 lets a family skip the inventory entirely when a sole heir serves as administrator or everyone consents. No inventory means no filed valuation, so order the appraisal yourself.

Planning Around a Tax That Is Not There

The absence of a state death tax changes what New Hampshire planning is for. The goal here is rarely to shrink a taxable estate. It is to keep the transfer simple, private and out of court.

  • A revocable living trust does nothing for estate tax in either direction, because you keep control of what it holds. It does keep funded assets out of probate.
  • A transfer on death deed under RSA 563-D moves the house without probate and without transfer tax, and the heir still gets the basis step-up.
  • Beneficiary designations on accounts and life insurance pass outside the estate, and are the easiest thing to leave stale after a divorce or a death in the family.

Those are the moves that pay off here. Keeping assets out of probate covers each of them in order of effort. For a married couple, the federal marital deduction and portability sit alongside the state law shares described in the New Hampshire surviving spouse rights guide, and the two sets of rules are worth reading together before signing anything.

When to Bring in a Professional

Talk to a tax advisor or an estate planning attorney when:

  • The estate may top the federal exclusion, or lifetime gifts already drew it down
  • The estate owns a business, a farm, or real estate in another state
  • A married couple wants to preserve the first spouse's unused federal exclusion
  • You need to file Form 706, or decide whether to file it just for portability
  • The estate is selling real estate and you want the transfer tax figured before closing

If you are settling an estate right now, the New Hampshire probate guide explains how to open the case and where the tax questions fall in the sequence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does New Hampshire have an estate tax?

No. RSA 87 does impose one, set at the maximum federal estate tax credit allowable for state death taxes (RSA 87:1, II), but RSA 87:9, headed "Chapter Void, When", makes the whole chapter void for anyone who dies after that federal credit was repealed. Congress replaced the credit with a deduction for deaths after December 31, 2004, so RSA 87 has produced no tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005. The Department of Revenue Administration confirms that no New Hampshire estate tax return is required for those deaths.

Does New Hampshire have an inheritance tax?

No. RSA 86, Taxation of Legacies and Successions, is printed in the Revised Statutes Annotated as repealed in its entirety by 2002, 232:14, II, effective January 1, 2003. RSA 89, the transfer tax on the personal property of nonresident decedents, was repealed by the same act on the same date. A child, sibling, niece or friend who inherits from a New Hampshire estate owes New Hampshire nothing on the inheritance.

Is it true that New Hampshire repealed its estate tax?

No, and the difference is worth knowing because both chapters get cited. RSA 86, the inheritance tax, was repealed outright. RSA 87, the estate tax, was never repealed. It is still printed in full, and it stopped producing tax on its own terms when RSA 87:9 voided it. That is why the chapter still turns up in probate paperwork.

Why does the New Hampshire probate paperwork still ask about estate tax?

Because RSA 87:25 survives. It bars the court from allowing a final account or a motion for summary administration until the Department of Revenue Administration files a certificate about the RSA 87 returns, and RSA 553:33, III(a)(3) asks the administrator to swear that no New Hampshire estate taxes are due or that an RSA 87:26 certificate is on file. For a death on or after January 1, 2005 the honest answer is that none is due.

Do heirs pay New Hampshire real estate transfer tax on an inherited house?

No. RSA 78-B:2, XI exempts transfers that occur by devise or other testamentary disposition, by the laws regulating intestate succession and descent, or by the death of a cotenant in real estate held by joint tenancy. RSA 78-B:2, XXV separately exempts a transfer on death deed under RSA 563-D where no consideration is exchanged. The estate's later sale to a buyer is fully taxable.

How large does an estate have to be before federal estate tax applies?

The federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 for a death during 2026, up from $13,990,000 for 2025. Only value above the exclusion is taxed, at rates topping out at 40 percent under 26 U.S.C. Section 2001(c). Form 706 falls due 9 months after the death under 26 U.S.C. Section 6075(a), and Form 4768 buys a 6-month filing extension but not more time to pay.

This guide is general information about New Hampshire estates, not advice for your situation.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 3, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in New Hampshire can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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