Ontario probate fees.

What Ontario actually charges

Ontario stopped calling this a fee in 1998. It is a tax, set by section 2 of the Estate Administration Tax Act, 1998, and since 1 January 2020 the rate has been:

• $0 on the first $50,000 of the value of the estate;
• $15 for each $1,000, or part of $1,000, of the value above $50,000.

That works out to 1.5% of everything over $50,000, and Ontario is among the more expensive provinces for it. There is no upper cap: a $4 million estate pays $59,250 and a $10 million estate pays $149,250.

The date that matters is the date the application for the estate certificate is made, not the date of death. An application made before 1 January 2020 falls under the old subsection 2(6) rates, which charged $5 per $1,000 on the first $50,000 with only a $1,000 exemption. This calculator implements the current rate only.

The rounding is up, and it is in the statute

“Or part thereof” is doing real work in section 2(6.1). The excess over $50,000 is rounded up to the next whole $1,000 before the $15 is applied, so an estate of $50,001 pays $15, not one and a half cents.

The Ministry of Finance describes the same rule as rounding the estate value up to the nearest thousand: for an estate of $239,250 the tax is calculated on $240,000, giving $2,850. Both descriptions produce identical answers, because $50,000 is itself a whole multiple of $1,000. This calculator reproduces the arithmetic in Ontario’s own online calculator exactly.

What goes into the value of the estate

Value is fair market value at the date of death. If the house sells three months later for more or less, the date-of-death appraisal is still the number that counts.

Included: real estate in Ontario, less encumbrances; bank accounts, including accounts at foreign banks; investments such as stocks, bonds, trust units, options and mutual funds; RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and RESPs where there is no beneficiary designation; vehicles and vessels, whether situated in Ontario or not; property of the deceased that is held in somebody else’s name; business interests and other intangible property wherever situated; insurance proceeds payable to the estate itself.

Excluded: real estate outside Ontario; anything that passes by a valid beneficiary designation, including registered plans and life insurance paid to a named person; property held in joint tenancy that passes automatically to the survivor; the CPP death benefit; and RDSPs the deceased subscribed to but was not a beneficiary of.

One trap worth naming: the “first dealings” exemption for Land Titles Conversion Qualified properties can spare you from having to probate in order to transfer the land, but it does not remove the property from the value of the estate for tax purposes if a certificate is being applied for.

The only debt you can deduct

Section 1(1) defines the value of the estate as the property of the deceased less the actual value of any encumbrance on real property included in that estate. That is the whole of the deduction.

The Ministry of Finance lists what cannot be deducted, and the list is longer than most people expect: funeral expenses, the lawyer’s fee, loans and interest payments, debt owed on a vehicle, credit card debts, real estate commissions, unregistered loans, and a line of credit.

So a mortgage on the Ontario house reduces the tax; $80,000 of credit card debt does not. Because out-of-Ontario real estate is excluded from the value outright, the deduction is in practice “Ontario real property, net of registered mortgages and liens.”

Small Estate Certificate: a simpler process, not a cheaper one

Since 1 April 2021 an estate valued at $150,000 or less can use a simplified court process and receive a Small Estate Certificate instead of the full certificate. O. Reg. 110/21 sets that $150,000 figure and has not been amended since.

It is easy to read that as a $150,000 tax-free threshold. It is not. The tax exemption is $50,000 and only $50,000. An estate of $140,000 qualifies as a small estate, uses the shorter forms, and still owes $15 × 90 = $1,350. The Act’s definition of “estate certificate” expressly includes a Small Estate Certificate, so the tax attaches either way.

The return you must file even when the tax is zero

An Estate Information Return is due to the Ministry of Finance within 180 calendar days after the estate certificate is issued. O. Reg. 310/14 sets that deadline. It is required even when the calculated value of the estate is $0, and the penalty for not filing is a fine of at least $1,000 and up to twice the tax payable, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

Four certificate types attract no tax and need no return: Succeeding Estate Trustee With a Will; Succeeding Estate Trustee With a Will Limited to the Assets Referred to in the Will; Succeeding Estate Trustee Without a Will; and Estate Trustee During Litigation.

Sources, and when they were last checked

Every rate, threshold and rebate above was read off the official page listed here on 2 September 2026. Rates change with provincial budgets; if you are reading this long after that date, open the source and check the number before you rely on it.

• Estate Administration Tax Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 34, Sched. — Ontario e-Laws — s. 1(1) value of the estate, s. 2(2)(b) exemption, s. 2(6.1) rate
• Estate Administration Tax — Ontario Ministry of Finance — inclusions, exclusions, non-deductible debts, 180-day return
• Calculating Estate Administration Tax — Ontario — the rounding rule and the government’s own worked example
• O. Reg. 110/21 (Small Estates) under the Estates Act — the $150,000 small estate threshold, unamended since 1 April 2021
• O. Reg. 310/14 under the Estate Administration Tax Act, 1998 — s. 3(1), the 180-day Estate Information Return deadline

Last verified 2 September 2026