Does Texas Have an Inheritance Tax? (2026)

Settling a Texas estate without full probate

Texas offers several shortcuts. Which one fits depends on whether there is a will and whether the estate owns real estate other than the home.

• Small estate affidavit, up to $75,000. When someone dies without a will, the heirs can collect the estate with a small estate affidavit if 30 days have passed, no petition to appoint a personal representative is pending or granted, and the estate's assets, not counting the homestead and exempt property, are worth $75,000 or less. The affidavit is filed with the court clerk and must be approved by the judge. (source)
• Every heir signs. All heirs sign the affidavit, or someone with legal authority signs for them. Some courts will not approve one if any heir is a minor. (source)
• The homestead. If the homestead is the only real estate in the estate, title can pass under the approved affidavit once it is recorded in the deed records of the county where the home is. (source)
• Muniment of title, when there is a will. If the only thing to do is transfer real estate, the will can be probated as a muniment of title. No executor is appointed: the judge signs an order admitting the will, and you record the will and the order in the county deed records. (source)
• Affidavit of heirship. To pass real estate when there was no will, or the will was not probated within four years, two people who knew the person and the family sign affidavits of heirship before a notary. They are recorded in the real property records of the county where the land is. (source)

Texas probate deadlines

• The four-year rule. A will generally cannot be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the death unless the person offering it shows they were not in default. Even then, letters testamentary cannot be issued if the application was filed after the four years, so no executor can be appointed. (source)
• Buyers from the heirs are protected. After four years, someone who buys property in good faith from the heirs, without knowing of a will, keeps good title even if a will turns up later. (source)
• Independent or dependent administration. Independent administration runs with limited court supervision: the executor mainly notifies creditors and beneficiaries and files an inventory within 90 days. In dependent administration the judge controls the administrator, who posts a bond and needs a court order for nearly every step. It is used, for example, when the beneficiaries do not agree to an independent administration or one of them is under 18. (source)

A surviving spouse's homestead rights

• The right to live there for life. The surviving spouse has the exclusive right to occupy the homestead for life, even when the home was the separate property of the person who died and was left to someone else. The spouse keeps that right by maintaining the home, which includes paying the property taxes and mortgage interest. (source)
• No forced sale by the heirs. The homestead may not be partitioned among the heirs while the surviving spouse uses or occupies it as a homestead, or while a court lets the guardian of minor children live there. (source)

Community property and the double step-up

• Both halves get a new basis. Texas is a community property state. When one spouse dies, the total fair market value of the community property, including the survivor's half, becomes its new basis, as long as at least half of it is included in the estate. (source)
• Inherited property generally. Anything you inherit takes a basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death, or on the alternate valuation date if the executor elects it. (source)
• Who inherits community property without a will. If all of the deceased spouse's children are also the survivor's children, the surviving spouse takes the whole community estate. If there is a child from another relationship, the deceased spouse's half goes to their children and the survivor keeps their own half. (source)

Property tax on an inherited Texas home

• Claiming the homestead exemption as an heir. If you inherit the home and live in it as your main residence, you can apply for the residence homestead exemption as an heir property owner even without a deed in your name. Bring an affidavit of ownership, the prior owner's death certificate, a recent utility bill and any court record on your ownership. (source)
• The school district exemption. School districts must exempt $140,000 of a residence homestead's value. (source)
• Surviving spouses 55 or older. A surviving spouse who is 55 or older may keep the deceased spouse's over-65 exemption, if the spouse died in a year they qualified and the home remains the survivor's residence. (source)

Executor pay in Texas

• A 5% commission, with limits. An executor who manages the estate properly may receive 5% of the cash actually received and paid out, capped at 5% of the estate's gross fair market value. No commission is allowed on money that was already in the person's bank or brokerage accounts, on life insurance proceeds, or on cash paid to heirs. (source)

No Texas tax on an inherited IRA

• No personal income tax. Texas does not have a personal income tax. Withdrawals from an inherited traditional IRA or 401(k) are taxed only on your federal return while you live in Texas. (source)
• No new death taxes. The 2025 amendment bars the Legislature from imposing a tax on a person's estate because of death, or a new tax on inheritances, gifts or generation-skipping transfers. (source)

If the person who died lived in another state

The Texas constitutional ban covers Texas taxes only. If your parent lived in another state, or owned land or a vacation home there, that state's death taxes can still apply to the estate or to you as an heir, even though you live in Texas.

• Kentucky inheritance tax
• Maryland inheritance tax
• Nebraska inheritance tax
• New Jersey inheritance tax
• Pennsylvania inheritance tax

What matters is where the person who died lived and where their real estate is, not where you live. Compare inheritance tax by state to see who pays and how much.