estate tax

noun

: a tax in the form of a percentage of the taxable estate that is imposed on a property owner's right to transfer the property to others after his or her death compare inheritance tax sense 1

Examples of estate tax in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If an investor who has not sold the IP expatriates for example, valuation of the interest will be included in determining the investor’s net worth and may subject the investor to unexpected taxes as a covered expatriate, for both income and estate tax purposes. —Priya Prakash Royal Esq. Ll.m. Mba Aep Tep, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025

Their analysis focused on individual and business tax provisions, excluding changes to the estate tax. —Diana Leyva, The Tennessean, 21 Aug. 2025

Cape Cod isn’t the first expensive housing market to introduce an extra real-estate tax on the wealthy. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2025

As of this year, 12 states and the District of Columbia have an estate tax, according to the Tax Foundation. —Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Money, 20 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for estate tax

• anticlimax
• counterattacks
• hemothorax
• mesothorax
• metathorax
• pneumothorax
• almanacs
• carrybacks
• haversacks
• lumberjacks
• maniacs
• microcracks

Legal Definition

estate tax

noun

: an excise in the form of a percentage of the taxable estate that is imposed on a property owner's right to transfer the property to others after his or her death

called also succession tax

see also unified transfer tax compare gift tax, inheritance tax