Are funeral expenses tax-deductible?

Personal returns — funerals are not deductible

Funeral expenses are not deductible on a personal federal income tax return (Form 1040). The IRS treats funeral expenses as personal expenses, not medical expenses, and personal expenses are not generally deductible. This holds whether the family member died of a medical condition, accident, or natural causes.

Estate returns — funerals can be deductible

Funeral expenses ARE deductible on the deceased's estate return (Form 706, the United States Estate Tax Return) when the estate is large enough to require filing. In 2026 the federal estate tax exemption is $13.61 million for an individual ($27.22 million for a married couple). Estates below the exemption do not file Form 706 and the funeral expense deduction is irrelevant to most U.S. families.

Estates above the exemption can deduct: funeral home charges, cemetery costs, headstone or marker, and reasonable funeral-related travel expenses. The deduction is taken at the marginal estate tax rate (40% for amounts above the exemption), so a $10,000 funeral expense reduces estate tax by $4,000.

State estate tax considerations

Several states impose their own estate or inheritance taxes with lower exemption thresholds than the federal estate tax: Massachusetts ($2 million), Oregon ($1 million), Washington ($2.193 million in 2026), Connecticut ($13.61 million matching federal), Hawaii ($5.49 million), Illinois ($4 million), Maine ($6.41 million in 2026), Maryland ($5 million), Minnesota ($3 million), New York ($6.94 million in 2026), Rhode Island ($1.774 million in 2026), Vermont ($5 million), and the District of Columbia ($4.764 million in 2026).

In these states, funeral expenses can be deductible on the state estate return when the estate exceeds the state exemption. Six states impose inheritance tax (Iowa is phasing out, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania); funeral expense deductibility on these returns varies by state.

Common mistakes

• Filing Schedule A medical expense deductions for funeral costs. Funeral expenses are not medical expenses and are not deductible on Schedule A.
• Assuming life insurance proceeds reduce the deductible amount. Insurance proceeds are not income to the beneficiary and do not affect the deduction calculation on the estate return.
• Trying to deduct funeral expenses paid for a non-spouse, non-relative. Only the estate that incurred the expense can deduct it.

Pricing source disclosure

Every dollar amount on Cheap Funeral is sourced from each funeral home's published General Price List (GPL) under the FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453). The Rule requires every U.S. funeral home to provide an itemized GPL on request — by phone, in person, or in many cases online. Where a home has not published a GPL we mark the listing accordingly rather than estimate.

National benchmarks throughout this article are drawn from the National Funeral Directors Association 2023 Member General Price List Study (NFDA, July 2023), which reports the median U.S. cost of a funeral with viewing and burial at $8,300 and the median direct cremation at $2,495.