An old federal table, plus a fixed credit
Straight from the statute: for deaths on or after January 1, 2015, the tax equals the maximum credit for state death taxes allowed by 26 U.S.C. §2011 as it was in effect on January 1, 2001, reduced by a Rhode Island credit — adjusted each year for inflation and rounded up to the nearest $5. Because the credit is a fixed dollar figure subtracted from the computed tax, the result rises smoothly — there's no cliff.
A threshold that actually moves with inflation
Rhode Island's threshold has climbed nearly every year — from $1,595,156 in 2021 to $1,648,611 in 2022 and up to $1,838,056 for 2026 — genuinely uncommon among states that use this older credit-table mechanism.
Every estate must file, taxable or not
Rhode Island requires Form RI-706 for every estate of a decedent dying on or after January 1, 2015, regardless of whether any tax is actually owed — a stricter filing rule than most states, which only require a return once the estate exceeds the threshold.