Canadian estate and inheritance tax calculator
Canada has no inheritance tax — nobody is taxed for receiving one. What dying costs is probate, and the final return: on a $900,000 Ontario estate the probate fee is $12,750 and the RRSP costs $234,160. Almost everyone worries about the wrong one.
$650,728 left of the estate · 27.7% of it
| Probate fee | $12,750 |
| Tax on the registered plan | $234,160 |
| Tax on other income | $2,362 |
| Total | $249,272 |
The plan is 18× the probate fee. Its whole value became income in one year, taxed at an average of 46.8%. Tick the box above to see what a beneficiary designation is worth.
Capital gains on the deemed disposition at death are not included, because the inclusion rate that decides how much of a gain is taxable has been proposed, deferred and contradicted. There is no figure here rather than a wrong one.
Canada has no inheritance tax. None. Anywhere.
Start here, because it is the answer to the question most people are actually asking. No Canadian province and not the federal government levies a tax on receiving an inheritance. If someone leaves you $500,000, you report nothing, you owe nothing, and there is no form to file. Canada abolished its estate tax in 1972 and replaced it with something structurally different.
What replaced it is the deemed disposition: instead of taxing the estate for existing, the law treats the person who died as having sold everything they owned at market value in the instant before death, and taxes that on their final return. The tax falls on the deceased, not the heir, and it is income tax rather than a tax on wealth transferred.
So the money does come out — but from a different pocket, under a different name, and with completely different planning consequences. Two costs matter, and almost everybody worries about the smaller one.
Probate: $12,750 in Ontario on a $900,000 estate
Probate is the court confirming that a will is valid and that the executor may act. Provinces charge for it, on the value of the estate, and the charge varies more between provinces than almost any other tax in Canada.
Ontario calls it the Estate Administration Tax and it is the heaviest in the country: nothing on the first $50,000, then $15 for every $1,000 of the rest, with no ceiling at all. On a large estate it is the single biggest cost of dying in Canada outside the final return.
On $900,000, cheapest to dearest among the jurisdictions whose own fee schedule could be read:
1. Manitoba — nothing at all.
2. Quebec — nothing at all.
3. Alberta — $525.
4. Newfoundland and Labrador — $5,454.
5. Saskatchewan — $6,500.
6. British Columbia — $12,050.
7. Ontario — $12,750 ← this page.
8. Nova Scotia — $14,563.
The gap widens as estates grow, because most of these have no ceiling and one of them does. On $2,000,000: $33,208 in Nova Scotia against $525 in Alberta, whose fee stops at a flat maximum no matter how large the estate. That is 63 times, on identical wealth.
Manitoba and Quebec charge nothing based on value. Manitoba abolished probate fees outright on 6 November 2020. Quebec never had a value-based tax, and a notarial will needs no probate at all — which is most of why notarial wills are the norm there and rare everywhere else.
And the registered plan: $234,160 on the same estate
Here is the number that surprises people, and it is 18 times the probate fee.
The CRA's rule is blunt: when the holder of an RRSP dies, *"the CRA considers that the annuitant received, immediately before death, an amount equal to the fair market value of all the property held in the RRSP at the time of death."* The whole plan becomes ordinary income in a single year.
A $500,000 RRSP alongside $30,000 of other income makes the final return show $530,000 of income. In Ontario the tax on that is $236,522, of which $234,160 is the plan — an average rate on it of 46.8%. Money that was deferred at a middle-income marginal rate over thirty years comes out at the top rate in one.
The exception is complete, and it is the whole of estate planning for most families. If the plan goes to a spouse, a common-law partner, or a financially dependent child or grandchild, it transfers with no tax at all and the deferral continues in their hands. In this example that takes the total from $249,272 to $15,112 — a difference of $234,160 turning on a beneficiary designation.
Which makes the beneficiary line on an RRSP one of the highest-value pieces of paperwork most Canadians will ever fill in, and one that is routinely left blank or left pointing at an estate that no longer reflects anyone's intentions.
The part this calculator deliberately does not compute
Death also triggers a deemed disposition of every capital property — the cottage, the rental, the share portfolio — at market value. Accrued gains that were never realised in life become realised at death, and the tax on them is frequently larger than everything above.
That is not calculated here, and the reason is the inclusion rate. How much of a capital gain is taxable at all was proposed at two thirds in 2024, deferred to January 2026, and then contradicted by later announcements. Every other figure on this site was read off the document that sets it, and there is no such document for this one. So there is no number, rather than a number that might be wrong by a third.
Two rules that soften it are worth knowing regardless, because both are settled. A principal residence that qualified throughout is exempt from the deemed disposition, which removes the largest asset most estates hold. And capital property left to a surviving spouse or a qualifying spousal trust rolls over at cost — no gain realised, no tax, until that survivor sells or dies.
Between the spousal rollover on capital property, the spousal rollover on the registered plan and the principal residence exemption, a first death in a married couple is usually close to tax-free. The bill arrives on the second.
What actually reduces the number, and what only looks like it does
Naming a beneficiary directly on registered plans and life insurance moves the asset outside the estate, so it never appears in the probate calculation — worth 1.5% of its value in Ontario — and, for a qualifying survivor, avoids the income inclusion too. Two separate savings from one form.
Joint ownership with right of survivorship also bypasses probate, and it is the most misused tool on this list. Adding an adult child to the title of a house can trigger a deemed disposition immediately, expose the property to that child's creditors and divorce, and produce litigation about whether it was a gift or a trust. It saves a percentage and can cost a multiple of it.
Where you live is worth more than most planning. The same estate costs $6,088 in Nova Scotia and nothing in Manitoba or Quebec at $400,000. Nobody should move province for it, but anyone comparing advice written for one province should know it does not transfer.
A notarial will in Quebec removes probate entirely rather than reducing it. It is the only place in Canada where the form of the will decides whether the court is involved at all.
Which provinces are here, and which are not
Probate fees are shown for the 8 jurisdictions whose own fee schedule could be read: Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec.
Not shown, and not estimated:
New Brunswick — its legislation site blocks automated access, and its rates changed on 12 June 2026.
Prince Edward Island — its fee schedule is not published in a readable form.
Yukon — its fee schedule is not published in a readable form.
Northwest Territories — only a partial schedule could be found.
Nunavut — no published schedule could be found.
New Brunswick is the one to watch if you are there: its probate rates changed on 12 June 2026 and any figure written before that date is now wrong, including on every other calculator that has not noticed.
— Capital gains on the deemed disposition are NOT calculated. Death triggers a deemed sale of every capital property at market value, and the tax on that is often larger than everything shown here — but the inclusion rate that decides how much of a gain is taxable has been proposed, deferred and contradicted, and no figure for it is published on this site until it can be read off a document that settles it.
— The principal residence exemption is not applied. A home that qualified as your principal residence throughout is exempt from the deemed disposition, which for most estates removes the single largest asset from the calculation entirely.
— The spousal rollover is applied only to the registered plan. Capital property left to a surviving spouse or a qualifying spousal trust also passes at cost with no tax until they dispose of it, and that is not modelled.
— Estate administration costs that are not tax — the executor's compensation, legal and accounting fees, appraisals — are not included, and on a contested estate they routinely exceed the probate fee.
— Nothing here covers the graduated rate estate, the 36-month window in which an estate can be taxed at graduated rates rather than the top rate, or the tax on income the estate earns after death.
Where all of this comes from
Ten documents, from the CRA and from each province's own court or legislature, each read on the date shown:
CRA — Death of an RRSP annuitant (the fair market value is income on the final return) — read 2026-09-08. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4177/death-rrsp-annuitant-a-prpp-member.html
CRA — Taxable capital gains on property when someone dies (the deemed disposition and the spousal rollover) — read 2026-09-08. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/life-events/doing-taxes-someone-died/prepare-returns/report-income/capital-gains.html
Government of Ontario — Estate Administration Tax — read 2026-09-08. https://www.ontario.ca/page/estate-administration-tax
Probate Fee Act (British Columbia) — read 2026-09-08. https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_99004_01
Government of Alberta — Court fees (surrogate grants) — read 2026-09-08. https://www.alberta.ca/court-fees
Court of King's Bench of Manitoba — Elimination of probate charges — read 2026-09-08. https://www.manitobacourts.mb.ca/site/assets/files/1152/2020-11-06_notice_-_elimination_of_probate_charges.pdf
Saskatchewan Courts — Probating an estate — read 2026-09-08. https://sasklawcourts.ca/kings-bench/wills-and-estates/probating-an-estate/
Courts of Nova Scotia — Courts of Probate taxes — read 2026-09-08. https://www.courts.ns.ca/sites/default/files/editor-uploads/Probate_Court_Costs_and_Fees_Table_16_08.pdf
Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador — Court service fees — read 2026-09-08. https://www.court.nl.ca/supreme/schedule-of-fees/
Gouvernement du Québec — Notarial will (no probate required) — read 2026-09-08. https://www.quebec.ca/en/justice-and-civil-status/wills-estate/wills/forms-will/notarial-will
The Ontario figure was checked against the province's own worked example — an estate of $240,000, which Ontario says costs $2,850 — and it matches to the dollar.
Where to go next
Questions
- Is there an inheritance tax in Canada?
- No. No province and not the federal government taxes an inheritance in the hands of the person receiving it. Canada abolished its estate tax in 1972. What replaced it is a deemed disposition on the final return of the person who died, so the tax falls on their estate as income tax rather than on you as a beneficiary.
- Do I pay tax on money I inherit in Canada?
- No. You report nothing and owe nothing on the inheritance itself. What you do owe tax on is anything the inherited asset earns afterwards — interest, dividends, rent — and any gain from the day you inherited it if you later sell.
- How much is probate in Ontario?
- $12,750 on a $900,000 estate. Ontario calls it the Estate Administration Tax and it is the heaviest in the country: nothing on the first $50,000, then $15 for every $1,000 of the rest, with no ceiling at all. On a large estate it is the single biggest cost of dying in Canada outside the final return.
- What happens to an RRSP when someone dies?
- Unless a qualifying survivor inherits it, the whole fair market value becomes income on the deceased's final return in one year. On $500,000 alongside $30,000 of other income in Ontario, that is $234,160 of tax at an average 46.8%. If a spouse, common-law partner or financially dependent child or grandchild inherits it, it transfers with no tax and the deferral continues.
- How can I reduce probate fees?
- Naming beneficiaries directly on registered plans and life insurance keeps those assets out of the estate, so they never enter the probate calculation. Joint ownership with right of survivorship does the same but carries real risks — an immediate deemed disposition, exposure to the co-owner's creditors, and disputes about intent — that often cost more than the fee saved.
- Which province has the cheapest probate?
- Manitoba and Quebec charge nothing based on estate value at all, and Alberta caps its fee at a flat maximum however large the estate — $525 on $2,000,000, against $33,208 in Nova Scotia.
- Does leaving everything to my spouse avoid the tax?
- It defers almost all of it. Registered plans transfer to a spouse with no tax, and capital property rolls over at cost rather than at market value. In the example on this page that takes the total from $249,272 to $15,112. The deferred tax is not cancelled — it arrives on the second death.