Quick answer: no portability, and no separate state-only QTIP either — Vermont simply gives a full, unlimited marital deduction. Run your own numbers in the Vermont estate tax calculator.
One exemption per spouse, no exceptions
Each spouse has their own $5,000,000 exemption. If the first spouse to die leaves everything outright to the survivor without any planning, that spouse's own exemption goes entirely unused, with no way to recover it at the second death.
No separate Vermont QTIP election, unlike several neighbors
Several other states with an estate tax — Maine, Minnesota, Illinois, and Rhode Island among them — let an executor make a state-only QTIP election independent of the federal one. Vermont doesn't work that way: its "Vermont taxable estate" starts directly from the federal taxable estate, which already reflects whatever marital deduction was elected federally. There's no separate Vermont-specific box to check.
A genuinely unlimited marital deduction
The standard workaround: bypass trust planning
Because there's no portability, Vermont couples typically rely on a credit shelter (bypass) trust so that the first spouse's own $5,000,000 exemption is actually used at the first death, rather than passing everything outright to the survivor and losing it. A combined $10,000,000 exposure for a married couple only gets fully sheltered with this kind of planning in place.
A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
See the full threshold and rate breakdown for how the flat 16% rate applies once an estate exceeds its own exemption.