A member here asked what it would actually cost to wind up an estate, not just the estate duty, but everything that comes before it. Fair question, so I built a calculator that answers it properly.
Put in what you own, what you owe and who inherits what, and it adds up the whole bill in the order SARS actually applies it, capital gains tax on the deemed disposal at death, the executor’s fee, the Master’s fee, and only then estate duty after the R3.5 million abatement.
A few things it does that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
It checks whether your family would actually have the cash. All of that falls due while the estate is frozen. If the money is tied up in a house or a business, the executor can be forced to sell something to pay it. The calculator compares what the estate can raise against what it owes and tells you straight if there’s a shortfall.
It keeps retirement funds and beneficiary nominated policies out of the sum, correctly. Those pay out directly and skip estate duty, CGT and the executor’s fee entirely, which a couple of the calculators I checked get wrong.
It projects forward. The R3.5 million abatement hasn’t moved since 2007, so more of most people’s estates drift over that line every year. The tool grows your numbers forward and shows the duty climbing as it happens.
Try it here: Estate Duty Calculator South Africa 2026
There’s a longer companion guide too if you want the detail: Estate Duty in South Africa 2026: The Real Cost
It’s general information based on the SARS rules, not advice, and real estates have complications like trusts and foreign assets that this can’t capture. Keen to hear if the shortfall check flags anything you weren’t expecting.
