Inheritance Tax (IHT)

Estimate the IHT due on an estate, including transferred allowances and the residence nil-rate band. Bands frozen until April 2030.

Your details

All values calculated using 2026/27 (bands frozen since 2020/21) figures.

£
Is a main residence being left to direct descendants (children/grandchildren)?
Was the deceased married/civil partner whose spouse predeceased them, transferring 100% of unused NRB and RNRB?

If 10% or more, the IHT rate falls from 40% to 36%.

Fill in your details and press Calculate.

How this is calculated

UK Inheritance Tax (Inheritance Tax Act 1984) is charged at 40% on the value of an estate above the available nil-rate bands. The rate falls to 36% where 10% or more of the net estate is left to charity. The calculator builds your allowance in this order:

  • Nil-rate band (NRB): £325,000 — doubled to £650,000 where a predeceasing spouse or civil partner used none of theirs.
  • Residence nil-rate band (RNRB): £175,000, available only where a main residence is left to direct descendants (children or grandchildren) — similarly doubled to £350,000 with a full spousal transfer, giving a married couple up to £1m in total.
  • RNRB taper: for estates above £2m, the RNRB is reduced by £1 for every £2 over the threshold, so a single RNRB is gone at £2.35m and a doubled one at £2.7m.

The tax is then (estate value − total allowance) × 40%, or × 36% where you enter a charity percentage of 10 or more. Bands are frozen at these levels until April 2030 (announced in the November 2022 Autumn Statement and confirmed in subsequent Budgets).

Assumptions and limits: the spousal-transfer option is all-or-nothing — the calculator doubles both bands on the basis that 100% of the first estate's allowances went unused, and cannot model a partial transferable percentage. It does not deduct exempt legacies (anything passing to a surviving spouse, civil partner or charity is itself free of IHT and should be excluded from the estate value you enter), does not add back lifetime gifts made within 7 years of death (use the 7-year gift taper calculator for those), does not cap the RNRB at the value of the home actually passing, and ignores Business and Agricultural Property Relief, trusts and foreign assets. The 36% charity test uses the percentage you enter rather than computing the "net estate" baseline. Treat the result as a first estimate and take professional advice for estates near or above the thresholds.

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