No, Australia does not have an inheritance tax or estate tax (sometimes called "death duties"). The federal government abolished these taxes in 1979, and all states and territories followed suit shortly after.
There are no inheritance or estate taxes in Australia. However, you may have tax obligations for the assets you inherit: capital gains tax may apply if you dispose of an asset inherited from a deceased estate. income tax applies as usual to any dividends or rental income from shares or property you inherited.
Federal Estate Taxes
If you inherit more than $13.99 million (in 2025) you will have to pay a federal estate tax. The limit for married couples is $27.98 million. However, there are exemptions.
By 1979, all Australian jurisdictions had abolished inheritance taxes due to growing public sentiment against “death taxes” and concerns about their impact on family businesses and farms. While inheritance taxes were abolished, the conversation around wealth distribution has continued in Australia.
There is no specific dollar limit for tax-free gifts in Australia. Personal gifts such as money given between family and friends are generally tax-free, but gifts involving assets may have tax consequences like CGT.
What do I need to know about tax when I make a gift? In reality, you can gift as much as you like to your children or grandchildren, but they might have to pay an unexpected tax charge if you don't think about this when making your plans. Inheritance tax (IHT) is the main tax to consider if you're giving away cash.
That's right, there's no tax or penalty for gifting your kids any amount of money. The only tax they would pay would be on the interest.
Charity exemption
Like the spousal exemption, assets passing to charity on death are exempt from inheritance tax. As such, if an entire estate passes to charity, there will be no inheritance tax due.
Ways to Avoid Inheritance Tax Australia
In general, any inheritance you receive does not need to be reported to the IRS. You typically don't need to report inheritance money to the IRS because inheritances aren't considered taxable income by the federal government. That said, earnings made off of the inheritance may need to be reported.
Another common tax loophole is to downsize your property. As inheritance tax only comes into effect at the time of someone's death, taking into account assets that have been given away in the seven years prior to death, it can be a good idea to downsize to a smaller property.
Avoid Inheritance Tax by Using insurance to pay inheritance
Instead, it will be used to pay the outstanding Inheritance Tax bill on their other inheritances. This will allow you to avoid inheritance tax or reduce the amount you will have to pay.
On death of an owner, the rule is that where a parcel of land is eligible for the principal place of residence exemption under Clause 9 of Schedule 1A of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW) (LTMA), then unless the land is generating income from rent, an executor is allowed 2 years from the date of death of the ...
This is done by the person dealing with the estate (called the 'executor', if there's a will). Your beneficiaries (the people who inherit your estate) do not normally pay tax on things they inherit. They may have related taxes to pay, for example if they get rental income from a house left to them in a will.
By 1895 each Australian State had introduced its own inheritance (estate) tax. This tax was also often referred to as “death duties”. Federal estate tax was introduced in 1914 but was abolished 65 years later, in 1979. The States have also abolished their inheritance taxes, starting with Queensland in 1978.
You'll need to add half of your profit to your income for the year. Because your profit was $100,000, you'll report $50,000 as a taxable capital gain. Your personal tax rate is then applied to the total amount of income you reported to determine how much tax you owe.
IHT may have to be paid on the estate if it's worth more than the tax-free threshold of £325,000. This means that the first £325,000 of your estate is tax-free – the 40% tax only applies to any assets over this threshold.
If you decide you want to put money from an inheritance into your super, you usually can, by making a voluntary contribution or a spouse contribution. There are limits on how much you can contribute to your super per year, so make sure the amount you contribute to your super is within these limits.
Technically speaking, you can give any amount of money you wish as a gift to one or more of your children or any other member of family. Some parents also choose to buy property and put it into their child's / children's name(s).
While state laws differ for inheritance taxes, an inheritance must exceed a certain threshold to be considered taxable. For federal estate taxes as of 2024, if the total estate is under $13.61 million for an individual or $27.22 million for a married couple, there's no need to worry about estate taxes.
The federal estate tax applies to the transfer of property at death. The gift tax applies to transfers made while a person is living. The generation-skipping transfer tax is an additional tax on a transfer of property that skips a generation.
If the sale price is less than the market value of the property, the 'market value substitution rule' will apply, meaning the tax office will deem you to have received the market value of the asset at the time of the transfer.
You can give any amount of cash to a family member without worrying about a gift tax. However, if you're gifting to a minor child, any income earned from that gift may be attributed back to you for tax purposes.
Generally, you don't need to declare amounts you receive as gifts. A gift of cash may be taxable if you receive it as part of a business-like activity or through your own income earning activities (for example, any interest you might earn on the money).