Estate Duty Calculator — South Africa
Estimate estate duty payable on a South African deceased estate — abatement, spousal exemption, executor's fee and the current SARS rate tiers.
Quick answer: South African estate duty is charged at 20% on the dutiable value of a deceased estate up to R30,000,000, and 25% above that. Every estate gets a R3,500,000 abatement before duty applies (up to R7,000,000 if a predeceased spouse's abatement rolled over), and anything left to a surviving spouse is fully exempt regardless of value (SARS Estate Duty Act, current).
Estate Duty Calculator
For South African deceased estates — abatement, spousal exemption and executor's fee included
* Estate duty: 20% on dutiable value up to R30,000,000, 25% above it. Abatement: R3,500,000 (R7,000,000 with spousal rollover). Estimates only — always confirm with the executor and a registered estate planner.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter the gross estate value — everything the deceased owned — and any outstanding liabilities. The executor's fee defaults to the statutory maximum of 3.5% of the gross value, applied before debts are subtracted, and is editable if a lower fee was negotiated. Enter any bequest to a surviving spouse (fully exempt) or an approved PBO / charity (fully deductible).
If this is a second death and a predeceased spouse's abatement was not fully used, toggle on the rolled-over abatement to apply the combined R7,000,000 figure instead of the standard R3,500,000. The calculator then shows the dutiable value and estimated estate duty at 20% (up to R30 million) and 25% (above it).
What Is Estate Duty in South Africa?
Estate duty is a tax on the net value of what a person leaves behind when they die. It is charged before anything passes to heirs — the deceased's estate itself pays it, through the appointed executor, out of estate funds, as one of the final steps in winding up the estate. Heirs never receive a duty bill of their own; if duty is owed, it reduces what the estate has available to distribute, and the executor settles it before the estate can be finalised.
The figures on this page reflect the SARS Estate Duty Act framework as it currently stands, confirmed against the Feb 2026 Budget. Estate planning involves personal circumstances — marital regime, existing trusts, life policy structuring, prior donations — that a general calculator cannot capture. This tool is a starting point for a conversation with an estate planner or the executor handling the estate, not a substitute for one.
Because estate duty is settled from the deceased's estate, liquidity matters as much as the duty rate itself. An estate that is asset-rich but cash-poor — a family home, a share portfolio, a business interest, but little cash on hand — can face real difficulty if a meaningful duty bill falls due and there isn't enough liquid money to pay it without selling something the family would rather have kept. This is one of the most common and most preventable problems in South African estate administration, and it is worth discussing with whoever is handling your estate planning well before it becomes urgent.
The R3,500,000 Abatement — And How It Rolls Over
Every South African estate is entitled to a R3,500,000 deduction — the Section 4A abatement — subtracted from the net estate value before estate duty is calculated at all. This single figure means a large share of ordinary South African estates fall entirely within the abatement and owe no estate duty whatsoever, once debts, the executor's fee and any other deductions have been accounted for.
What often goes unnoticed is what happens on a couple's first death. When one spouse leaves most or all of their estate to the surviving spouse — a very common estate plan — the spousal bequest exemption already shields that value from duty, which means the deceased's own R3,500,000 abatement typically goes largely unused. Rather than losing it, the unused portion rolls over and adds to the surviving spouse's own abatement. On the second death, the surviving spouse's estate can then claim a combined abatement of up to R7,000,000 — double the standard figure — which is exactly what the rollover toggle in this calculator applies.
This mechanism only works correctly if the executor of the first estate formally elects the rollover with SARS at the time — it is not automatic years later. If you are the executor of a first-dying spouse's estate and most of the estate is passing to the survivor, confirm the rollover election is filed as part of that estate's administration, so the survivor's estate can benefit from it later.
Why the Spousal Bequest Exemption Is the Biggest Planning Lever
Under Section 4(q) of the Estate Duty Act, any asset bequeathed to a surviving spouse is fully exempt from estate duty, with no cap on value. A R20,000,000 estate left entirely to a surviving spouse attracts zero estate duty on the first death — the full spousal bequest exemption absorbs it, regardless of size. This is why so many first-death estates between married couples generate no duty bill at all, even where the estate is substantial.
The trade-off is that duty is typically deferred rather than eliminated — it tends to fall due on the second death, when the combined estate (now potentially larger, having absorbed the first spouse's assets) passes to the next generation without the spousal exemption available to shelter it. This is exactly why the R7,000,000 rollover abatement matters so much on the second death: it is the mechanism designed to soften that eventual bill. Structuring bequests between spouses, and planning for what happens on the second death, is where most of the real estate duty planning work happens in South Africa.
Selling estate property affects two separate SARS calculations. Estate duty and capital gains tax are worked out independently — see how the deemed disposal on death interacts with property held in a deceased estate.
Open the Capital Gains Tax Calculator →The 20% / 25% Rate Tiers and the R30 Million Threshold
Once the dutiable value has been established — after debts, the executor's fee, the spousal and PBO deductions, and the abatement have all been subtracted — estate duty is charged at 20% on the portion up to R30,000,000, and 25% on the portion above R30,000,000. These rates were aligned with donations tax rates from 1 March 2018 and remain unchanged in the Feb 2026 Budget. The tiered structure means only genuinely large estates ever pay the higher 25% rate — it applies solely to the slice of value that exceeds R30,000,000, not to the whole estate.
| Dutiable Value Band | Estate Duty Rate |
|---|---|
| R0 – R30,000,000 | 20% |
| Above R30,000,000 | 25% (on the excess only) |
Rates confirmed unchanged in the Feb 2026 Budget, aligned with donations tax since 1 March 2018. Applies to dutiable value only — after all deductions and the abatement.
The Executor's Fee — A Cost on the Gross, Not Net, Estate
The executor's fee is capped by law at a maximum of 3.5% of the gross estate value, governed by Section 51(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965. The important detail many families miss: it is charged on the gross value, before debts are subtracted — a R3,000,000 house with a R2,000,000 outstanding bond still attracts the fee on the full R3,000,000, not on the R1,000,000 of equity actually left after the bond is settled.
Professional executors — trust companies, attorneys, accountants — typically add 15% VAT on top of the fee, since they are usually VAT-registered vendors. A family member acting as an unpaid or lightly-paid executor usually is not VAT-registered, so no VAT applies in that case. Importantly, the 3.5% figure is a statutory maximum, not a fixed rate — it is negotiable downward, and many executors, particularly for smaller or simpler estates, will agree to a lower percentage if asked before appointment. This calculator's executor's fee field defaults to 3.5% but is fully editable so you can model your own negotiated rate.
What's Deductible Before Estate Duty Is Calculated
Before the abatement is even applied, the estate can deduct: outstanding debts and liabilities owed by the deceased, the executor's fee, the full value of any bequest to a surviving spouse, and the full value of any bequest to a SARS-approved Public Benefit Organisation. Only what remains after all of these deductions — and then the R3,500,000 or R7,000,000 abatement — is the dutiable value that the 20%/25% rates actually apply to. This is why two estates of identical gross value can have very different duty bills, depending entirely on how the deceased structured their bequests.
Estate Duty Is Not Capital Gains Tax
Estate duty and capital gains tax are two separate SARS calculations that can both apply on death. A deceased person's assets are treated as deemed disposed of for CGT purposes at date of death, which can trigger its own capital gains tax liability, calculated independently of estate duty using base cost, exclusions and inclusion rates rather than the abatement and rate tiers described here. An estate can owe both, neither, or just one, depending on what was owned and how it was structured.
Worked Example
An estate has a gross value of R5,000,000, R500,000 in outstanding debts, and the executor charges the statutory maximum 3.5% fee. No spousal or PBO bequests apply, and this is a first death using the standard abatement:
- Executor's fee: R5,000,000 × 3.5% = R175,000
- Net estate: R5,000,000 − R500,000 − R175,000 = R4,325,000
- Spousal + PBO deductions: R0
- Estate after deductions: R4,325,000
- Less abatement: − R3,500,000 = R825,000 dutiable value
- Estate duty @ 20%: R165,000 payable
Had this same estate left everything to a surviving spouse instead, the R4,325,000 spousal deduction would have brought the estate after deductions to zero — no abatement even needed — and the estate duty payable would have been R0. This is the practical difference the spousal bequest exemption makes in real terms.