Who Inherits Large Estates: IRS 2024 Bequests by Heir and Job

What these IRS tables count, and what they do not

The Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income division publishes five tables a year from a sample of Form 706 returns. The 2024 set sits on a page the IRS shows as last updated July 30, 2026. Every table opens with the same warning: “All figures are estimates based on a sample”, and money amounts are in thousands of dollars. Four points decide how to read them.

• Filing year, not year of death. The IRS note says an estate generally files in the year after death, so “in 2024, most returns were filed for deaths that occurred in 2023, for which the filing threshold was $12.92 million of gross estate”. Some were filed for earlier deaths with lower thresholds, and a few for deaths in 2024 ($13.61 million). For deaths in 2026 the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 2.14), so tomorrow's filing group is narrower than this one. Our estate tax exemption page has the rules.
• “Number” in the bequest table counts beneficiaries. In Table 4 it is the number of beneficiaries listed on Form 706 Part 4, lines 4 and 5, not the number of estates. One estate can list several children.
• Charity is mostly missing from the heir table. The IRS says Part 4 line 5 values “do not include charitable bequests reported on Schedule O”. Those result in a deduction and are in Tables 1 and 3, covered below.
• Spouse figures differ between tables. Table 4 shows $83.79 billion to a spouse (Part 4, including marital trusts). Table 1 shows a Schedule M deduction of $81.88 billion on 3,720 returns, which the IRS says differs because Schedule M can be reduced by taxes payable and may omit some marital trusts.

The trust bucket needs care. The IRS defines it as “no information available or a trust, unknown group of beneficiaries, estate, or other entity” and adds: “This category includes bequests to family trusts which often provide income to a spouse and then residual income to children.” So the 23.6% shown for children is a floor for what children eventually receive, and the 46.7% for a spouse may include some money that later passes to children.

Who inherits: bequests by type of heir

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Table 4 for filing years 2024 and 2023. Shares and changes are our arithmetic. The 17 categories add to the $179.36 billion total. The charitable line is Part 4 only and excludes Schedule O.

Three readings from the table:

1. Spouse, children and trusts together took 92.1% of the dollars. Every other relationship combined, from grandchildren to cousins, was 7.9%. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren are 1.6%, nephews, nieces and god-children 1.5%, siblings 1.0% (our arithmetic).
2. A spouse's bequest is far larger per listed beneficiary. Dividing dollars by beneficiaries listed gives about $17.9 million per spouse, $3.8 million per child, $1.8 million per sibling and $0.6 million per grandchild (our arithmetic). The spouse figure includes marital trusts, so it is not a typical check to a person.
3. Charity barely shows up here. Only 47 charitable foundation or trust bequests appear, worth $64.0 million, 0.04% of the total. That is a reporting rule, not a sign that large estates give little (next sections).

What changed from the 2023 filings

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Tables 1, 4 and 5 for filing years 2023 and 2024. Changes are our arithmetic.

The drop is not spread evenly. Bequests to a spouse barely moved (down 2.3%), while bequests to children and to the trust bucket each fell by more than 43%. The number of returns of $50 million or more fell from 1,024 to 825 and their combined net worth fell 39.9%, from $200.64 billion to $120.64 billion. The IRS tables do not say why, and they are a sample, so a few very large estates can move a total. What the data do show is that the 2024 fall in dollars came mainly from the very large estates, where children and family trusts are the usual heirs, and not from spousal transfers. Read year-to-year changes in this series as noise around a trend until a third year confirms them.

Why most of these estates owe nothing

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Table 1 (filing year 2024). The spouse and charitable deductions are the Schedule M and charitable deduction columns of Table 1; shares are our arithmetic.

Of the 7,195 returns, 4,532 (63.0%) were nontaxable and 2,663 (37.0%) paid. The mix matters. Returns of $10 million to $20 million were half of all returns (50.9%) but only 27.4% of them were taxable and they paid 6.9% of the tax. Returns of $50 million or more were 11.5% of returns, held 50.5% of net worth, and paid 68.0% of the net estate tax. The deduction for a spouse is what lets most estates through: nontaxable returns claimed $63.55 billion of it on 3,283 returns, taxable ones $18.34 billion on 437 (Table 1). Another route is the credit for a late spouse's unused exclusion: 1,020 returns claimed $6.66 billion of it.

Charity works the other way. The charitable deduction was $37.51 billion on 1,733 returns, and $29.91 billion of it, 79.7%, came from the 346 returns of $50 million or more that claimed it. Table 3 counts 1,701 estates with charitable bequests, whose gross charitable bequests were $37.96 billion against a combined gross estate of $101.28 billion for those estates, 37.5% (our arithmetic). It is a feature of the largest estates, not of the typical filer. Our page on a charitable remainder trust covers one way a real estate owner can plan for it in life.

Occupation: what decedents did for a living

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Table 5 (filing year 2024); sorted by net worth. Shares, average net worth per return and the taxable share are our arithmetic. Net worth is reported net worth of the decedent, not annual income.

Occupation is taken from Form 706 Part 4, line 2 and coded to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification. Three rules of that table change what you can say:

• “Retired” is a residual. The IRS note says that if the preparer lists an occupation, that occupation is used; “if the filer only indicated that a decedent is retired, then the decedent's occupation is placed in the Retired category.” So 1,000 retired returns are people whose former job was not written down.
• “Other” mixes unlike things. It holds returns with no occupation, students, homemakers and philanthropists, and also protective services, installation and repair, to avoid disclosing taxpayers.
• Small groups are suppressed. The IRS replaces some male and female cells with “d”; the data are in the totals. Our CSV keeps the “d” and does not guess.

What the table does show:

1. One group is nearly a third of everything. Business and financial operations is 29.6% of returns and 34.4% of net worth. Management has the highest average, $53.2 million per return against $33.2 million for all returns (our arithmetic).
2. Taxable shares range from 27.7% to 49.2%. Retired decedents are taxable most often among large groups (492 of 1,000, 49.2%), and net estate tax was 12.9% of their net worth against 9.8% overall. Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media is next at 44.4%. The lowest are architecture and engineering (27.7%), legal (28.3%) and healthcare practitioners (29.0%).
3. Occupation is not wealth by itself. The table says what the decedent wrote on line 2. It says nothing about how the money was made, and a doctor, a lawyer and a farmer can all hold the same property. Table 1 shows $7.05 billion of farm assets across all 7,195 returns, held by estates of every occupation.

Men and women

The table splits decedents by gender. Of the 7,195 returns, 4,522 were men's ($159.68 billion of net worth) and 2,673 women's ($79.08 billion, 33.1%). Women's returns were taxable far more often: 1,282 of 2,673 (48.0%) against 1,381 of 4,522 (30.5%), and net estate tax was 13.2% of women's net worth against 8.1% of men's, even though the average woman's net worth was lower ($29.6 million against $35.3 million; our arithmetic). The table does not show marital status. A spouse is the largest heir category and Table 1 shows a Schedule M deduction for bequests to a surviving spouse on 3,720 returns, so the figures are consistent with the tax falling more often on the second death, but the tables cannot prove it. 735 of the 1,000 retired returns were women's, and 349 of the 2,131 business and financial operations returns (16.4%).

What was in the estates

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Table 1 (filing year 2024), all returns. Shares of the $248.94 billion gross estate are our arithmetic.

The three real estate lines (personal residence $10.28 billion, other real estate $20.55 billion and real estate partnerships $14.03 billion) total $44.86 billion, 18.0% of the gross estate. Real estate partnerships appear on 2,056 returns and private equity and hedge funds on 1,059. Pooled and private holdings (real estate partnerships, other limited partnerships, private equity and hedge funds and other noncorporate business assets) add to $42.94 billion, 17.2% (our arithmetic). Two readings follow. For many estates the heirs receive property that is hard to value and slow to sell. Our pages on Form 706 Schedule A and real estate and section 6166 installments cover valuing it and paying tax over time.

Where the decedents lived

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, estate tax Tables 2 and 3 (filing year 2024), by state of residence. Shares are our arithmetic. Illinois's charitable total comes from 75 estates and is the kind of figure a few very large estates can move.

California and Florida together are 33.6% of returns and 40.9% of net estate tax. This is where the decedent lived, for returns filed in 2024. It is a different measure from the IRS Data Book's cash collected by state in fiscal 2025, which we rank on our page on federal estate tax collected by state. That page counts every Form 706 series return (28,495), this one counts the 7,195 in the sample, and the two are not meant to match. For state estate and inheritance taxes, which tax heirs differently, see our list of states with an estate or inheritance tax.

What a reader can do with this

• Find your group first. Add your gross estate, including real estate, fund interests, life insurance and retirement accounts, to lifetime taxable gifts. The $15,000,000 per person for 2026 is the line the 2024 filers were measured against at $12.92 million. The IRS tables show about half of the filers (50.9%) sat between $10 million and $20 million, where only 27.4% were taxable.
• Look at who is named, not only how much. In these returns the spouse takes the largest share. Spouse, children and trusts together took 92.1% of the dollars. If the plan leaves money in trust for the family, ask the attorney how Part 4 will describe the trust, since the IRS counts many family trusts in the “no information or a trust” row.
• Note where the tax lands. The data show women's returns are taxable more often, and they do not show why. If one spouse's estate used the marital deduction, the question for the survivor is what the first spouse's unused exclusion adds. Our page on credit shelter, QTIP and disclaimer trusts covers portability and basis.
• Plan the cash. With 18.0% of gross estate in real estate and 17.2% in private and partnership interests, a Form 706 can leave the estate short of cash when the tax is due. Check the liquid assets against the likely tax before the date arrives.
• Know the basis your heirs would get. Heirs of property in a taxable estate generally receive a new basis; see step-up in basis on inherited real estate.
• Ask what your occupation does not tell you. The occupation table is a description of who filed, not a test of who should plan. A business owner with an illiquid company and a retiree with rental property meet the same cliff.

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. The Form 706 is prepared by an estate-planning attorney or a CPA; an adviser can help with the money side of who inherits what.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 31, 2026: Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income, Estate Tax Returns Study, “Estate Tax Filing Year Tables 1 to 5” for filing years 2024 and 2023 (irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/24es01fy.xlsx, 24es02st.xlsx, 24es03ch.xlsx, 24es04ben.xlsx, 24es05soc.xlsx and the 2023 files 23es01fy.xlsx, 23es04ben.xlsx, 23es05soc.xlsx; page last updated July 30, 2026); Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 2.14. Shares, averages, per-beneficiary figures, changes and rankings are our arithmetic.