Estate Planning · 2026/27 Tax Year

Estate Settlement Calculator

A gentle look at what it costs to settle an estate: estate duty, capital gains tax, and executor's fees, so you can plan while there's plenty of time to. 2026/27 tax year figures. Estimates only, for planning discussion.

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Your estate

All fields in rand

Assets (market value today)

Your home: CGT primary residence exclusion applies

What it cost you (incl. improvements)

Second properties, shares, unit trusts, crypto

Total acquisition cost

Shares in private companies, member's interests

No CGT on personal-use assets and cash

Or to persons other than qualifying s3(3) exclusions

Shown for completeness, excluded from estate duty and executor's fees

Liabilities & costs

Bonds, loans, credit: settled before duty

Estimate: advertising, Master's fees, valuations

Choices & structure

Estate-duty free under s4(q), CGT rolls over

Tariff maximum 3.5% + VAT = 4.025%. Negotiable, or avoided by trust structure

If your spouse died first without using theirs, otherwise R3.5m

Assets in a trust fall outside this calculator entirely: exclude them above

The trust scenario: move assets today

Sold to your family trust at market value against a loan account

Determines the once-off CGT on moving them now

All growth from today lands in the trust, outside your estate

R150 000 per donor per year tax-free (R300 000 per couple). Set 0 for none

What your estate would pay today

R2 539 965

15.6% of your gross estate goes to taxes and fees

The breakdown

Gross estate (dutiable universe)

R13 300 000

Less: debts, admin & funeral

−R1 620 000

Less: to spouse, s4(q)

−R0

Less: CGT payable at death (deductible)

−R460 800

Less: abatement (s4A)

−R3 500 000

Dutiable estate

R7 719 200

Estate duty (20% / 25% > R30m)

R1 543 840

CGT at death (deemed disposal s9HA)

R460 800

Executor's fees

R535 325

Total estate settlement costs

R2 539 965

  • Estate duty
  • CGT at death
  • Executor's fees
  • To your heirs

Estimates for discussion only, not tax or legal advice. CGT is calculated at the 18% maximum effective individual rate on gains after exclusions (R440 000 death-year exclusion; R3m primary residence exclusion), ignoring your other income in the year of death. Retirement assets are excluded from duty and executor's fees per current law; s37C distribution rules apply. Confirm your position with a qualified tax practitioner.

The trust scenario, over time

10 · 20 · 30 years

Once-off CGT if you move the assets today

R900 000

HorizonAsset valueKept in estate¹Moved to trust²You save
10 yearsR23 673 637R9 048 846R2 942 125R6 106 721
20 yearsR56 044 108R23 954 742R2 581 750R21 372 992
30 yearsR132 676 785R59 991 258R2 221 375R57 769 883

Move R10 000 000 today: the gap only widens

If these assets stay in your estate, they grow into R132 676 785 of exposure over 30 years. Moved to a trust today, your estate holds only the loan account, shrinking by R150 000 every year, while every rand of growth lands outside the settlement net. Thirty-year difference on these numbers: R57 769 883. The earlier the move, the lower today's once-off CGT and the greater the growth captured.

¹ Estate duty (20% / 25% above R30m, on these assets standalone) + executor's fees + CGT at death on the full grown gain, if you keep the assets personally. ² The once-off CGT of moving now + estate duty and executor's fees on the remaining loan balance only (reduced by your annual waiver). Growth in the trust escapes your estate entirely. The model excludes s7C carrying costs (managed by charging the official rate or sizing within the R150 000 exemption), interest income effects, and trust-level CGT on an eventual disposal by the trust (at the higher trust rate): your tax practitioner models these for your facts.

lawvero (Pty) Ltd provides document preparation services and does not provide legal, tax or financial advice. Figures per the 2026/27 fiscal framework (Budget, February 2026): s4A abatement R3.5m (portable to R7m); estate duty 20% to R30m, 25% above; CGT death-year exclusion R440 000; primary residence exclusion R3 000 000; executor's tariff 3.5% plus VAT. © lawvero (Pty) Ltd 2026 · law, verified.

Estate Planning · 2026/27 Tax Year

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