Charitable Remainder Trust Calculator: CRT Tax & Income

Enter the asset you plan to contribute, the payout rate, and the beneficiaries' ages or the trust term to estimate the charitable deduction, test whether the trust qualifies, and project the payments and the tax on them.

The quick answer: a charitable remainder trust pays you (or you and your spouse) a percentage of its value for life or up to 20 years, then gives what is left to charity. You get an income tax deduction now equal to the present value of the charity's remainder, figured with the IRS Section 7520 rate (5.6% for October 2026, Rev. Rul. 2026-19) and the Table 2010CM mortality table. The trust can sell appreciated assets without immediate tax, but the gain is not forgiven; it is taxed to you as it is paid out.

This calculator is for informational purposes only, and its results are estimates. A CRT is irrevocable, and the deduction must be supported by a qualified appraisal for most non-cash assets, so have the trust drafted and the numbers checked before you fund it.

How the calculator values the remainder

The deduction is the remainder value, and the calculator computes it with the same formulas the IRS uses to build its actuarial tables. The factors match the published tables (U(1), U(2), D, F, S, R(2) and K in IRS Publications 1457 and 1458) to five decimal places.

Unitrust (CRUT). A CRUT pays a fixed percentage of the trust's value, revalued every year.

1. The stated payout rate is reduced to an adjusted payout rate to reflect how long after the annual valuation the payments are made. For quarterly payments at the end of each quarter at a 5.6% Section 7520 rate, the Table F factor is 0.966630, so a 6% payout becomes 5.800%.
2. For a term of years, the remainder factor is (1 − adjusted payout)^years, the Table D formula.
3. For one life, the factor sums the chance of death in each future year (from Table 2010CM) times the share of the trust still left at that point, as Treas. Reg. §1.664-4 prescribes. With two beneficiaries, the trust lasts until the second death.

Annuity trust (CRAT). A CRAT pays a fixed dollar amount set at funding. The remainder is the contribution minus the present value of the annuity at the Section 7520 rate, for the life or lives involved or for the term.

Ages are the age at the nearest birthday. The Section 7520 rate is an input because you may elect the rate for the month of the gift or either of the two months before it; a higher rate raises the deduction for a CRAT and has only a small effect on a CRUT.

The qualification tests

Section 664(d) sets the rules the calculator checks:

The 10% test is the one that bites. At a 5.6% Section 7520 rate, a 5% quarterly CRUT for a single 45-year-old has a remainder factor of about 0.208, but at age 40 it drops to about 0.170, and adding a younger second beneficiary or raising the payout can push it under 0.10. When the result shows the trust doesn't qualify, the calculator sets the deduction to zero.

How much of the deduction you can use

The deduction is an itemized deduction, so three limits apply in 2026:

• AGI limit. A gift of long-term capital gain property (stock, real estate) through a CRT whose remainder goes to a public charity is deductible up to 30% of adjusted gross income. If a private foundation can be the remainder beneficiary, the limit is 20%, and for property other than publicly traded stock the deduction is limited to your basis. Anything above the limit carries forward for five years.
• 0.5% floor. Starting in 2026, charitable deductions count only to the extent they exceed 0.5% of your contribution base (roughly AGI), under §170(b)(1)(I) as added by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• 35% cap for the top bracket. Section 68, as amended by P.L. 119-21, reduces itemized deductions by 2/37 of the lesser of your itemized deductions or your taxable income in the 37% bracket. In effect, a deduction is worth 35 cents per dollar instead of 37. The calculator applies this by subtracting 2 points from your rate when you enter 37% or more.

Worked example: a 6% CRUT funded with low-basis stock

You are 65, own stock worth $2,000,000 with a $200,000 basis, and have $1,500,000 of AGI in a year you are in the 37% bracket. You fund a lifetime CRUT paying 6% in quarterly installments, remainder to a public charity, in October 2026.

• Adjusted payout rate: 6% × 0.966630 = 5.800%
• Remainder factor (age 65, Table 2010CM): 0.36758
• Charitable deduction: $2,000,000 × 0.36758 = $735,153
• AGI limit: 30% × $1,500,000 = $450,000; less the 0.5% floor of $7,500 = $442,500 deductible in 2026
• Carryforward: $735,153 − $450,000 = $285,153
• Tax savings in 2026: $442,500 × 35% = $154,875
• Gain not taxed when the trust sells the stock: $1,800,000, so $360,000 of capital gains tax and $68,400 of NIIT are not due at the sale

The first year's payments total about $120,000 (6% of $2,000,000). Because the trust's built-in $1,800,000 gain is carried out before tax-free principal, those payments are taxed to you mostly as long-term capital gain for many years. With your spouse, 62, as a second beneficiary, the factor falls to 0.23885 and the deduction to about $477,696, because the trust is expected to pay out for longer.

A term trust and an annuity trust

• 20-year CRUT, 5% paid annually: adjusted payout 5% × 0.946970 = 4.735%; remainder factor (1 − 0.047348)^20 = 0.37904, a deduction of $379,037 per $1,000,000.
• Lifetime CRAT at age 70, 5% ($50,000 a year): remainder factor 0.52808, a deduction of $528,076 per $1,000,000. At today's 5.6% rate the trust's assumed earnings exceed the payout, so the 5% probability test is easily met.

How CRT payments are taxed

The trust itself is exempt from income tax, but every payment you receive is classified under the four-tier rules of §664(b), in this order:

1. Ordinary income the trust has earned (interest, nonqualified dividends), current and past
2. Capital gains, current and past, including the gain on the asset you contributed
3. Tax-exempt income
4. Principal, which is tax-free

The calculator assumes the trust invests for capital gains and qualified dividends, so it taxes each payment at your capital gains rate plus NIIT until the contributed gain and the trust's later gains have been paid out, and treats any excess as tax-free principal. If the trust holds bonds, part of each payment will be ordinary income instead. You receive a Schedule K-1 (Form 1041) showing the character of each year's payments, and the trust files Form 5227 every year.

Estate tax

A CRT keeps the contributed asset out of your heirs' hands: at the end of the trust, the remainder goes to charity. If you are the last beneficiary, the trust is included in your estate but fully offset by the charitable deduction, and a spouse's interest qualifies for the marital deduction. The calculator counts estate tax savings only on the part of your estate above the $15,000,000 basic exclusion for 2026 (IRS estate tax page), at the 40% top rate. For an estate below the exclusion, there is no federal estate tax to save. The estate tax calculator shows your federal and state exposure in more detail.

Reading the CRT-versus-sale comparison

The comparison gives both paths the same after-tax income each year:

• Sell and reinvest: pay capital gains tax and NIIT now, invest the rest at your expected return less tax, and withdraw what the CRT would have paid you after tax. Whatever is left at the end goes to your heirs.
• CRT: you receive the same income, plus the tax savings from the deduction, invested the same way. At the end, the trust's remainder goes to charity and the invested tax savings go to your heirs.

The CRT rarely leaves your heirs more money unless the income stream itself lasts long enough for tax-deferred compounding to outweigh the loss of the remainder. That is the point of the tool: it shows the cost to your heirs of the gift to charity. Families who want to replace that amount sometimes pair a CRT with life insurance in an irrevocable trust; the private placement life insurance calculator covers one version of that.

Choosing between a CRUT and a CRAT

A net-income CRUT (NICRUT or NIMCRUT) pays the lesser of the stated percentage or the trust's income, which suits an illiquid asset like real estate that won't be sold right away. A "flip" CRUT starts as a net-income trust and converts to a standard CRUT when the asset is sold.

Related tools

Use the capital gains calculator to see the tax on selling the asset outright, and the gift tax calculator if the trust names someone other than you or your spouse as a beneficiary, since that is a taxable gift of the income interest. For the wider estate plan, read estate tax planning strategies.