Estate Tax at Death Estimator
When you die, your RRSP or RRIF is taxed as income and your investments and cottage are taxed as if you sold them. See what your estate could owe, what your heirs would receive, and whether there is enough cash to pay the bill without selling property.
About you
Pension, CPP, OAS and regular RRIF payments for the year.
Home
Your principal residence. Its growth is tax free.
Registered accounts
Passes outside the estate, so no probate, but the account is still taxed on your final return.
Tax free at death.
Passes outside the estate, so no probate, and no tax.
Investments and other property
A bank or brokerage account cannot name a beneficiary, so it goes through the estate and probate. Gains are taxed.
Goes through the estate and probate, and the gain is taxed.
Half of the growth above what you paid is taxed. Include the cost of major improvements in what you paid.
Insurance, cash and debts
Paid tax free.
Your estate could owe
$245,795
That is 13% of the $1,875,000 you own: $245,270 in income tax on the final return and $525 in Alberta probate fees.
Tax on the final return
$245,270
top rate reached: 48%
Probate fees
$525
on $1,375,000 through the estate
Your heirs receive
$1,629,205
after debts, tax and probate
Passes outside the estate
$500,000
named beneficiaries, joint ownership, seg funds
Where the tax comes from
Only the extra tax caused by death is shown: tax on the final return minus the tax on your other income alone. On a large final return most of it is taxed at the top rate.
The estate is $20,795 short of cash to pay the bill
The estate must pay $245,795 in tax, probate and debts. It holds $225,000 in cash and investments. Without other cash, the executor may have to sell the cottage or the home, or the heirs may have to cover it.
Your RRSP or RRIF goes to the named beneficiary in full, but the $166,070 of tax on it is paid from the rest of the estate. If different people inherit the account and the rest of the estate, one of them pays the other's tax.
Many families plan for this bill so property does not have to be sold. Want to see what that could look like for yours?
Book a ConversationThis estimator is for illustrative purposes only and uses today's values and 2026 federal and Alberta tax rates for a person 65 or older. It assumes one half of capital gains is taxable, the home is your principal residence for every year you owned it, and a spouse rollover applies only where you choose it. It does not include recapture of depreciation on a rental, OAS repayment in the year of death, capital losses carried forward, donations, US assets, legal, executor or accounting fees, or probate in other provinces. Probate depends on how each asset is owned and who is named; confirm with a lawyer. This is not tax or legal advice.