Inheritance Tax calculator

Gifts between spouses and civil partners are entirely exempt from Inheritance Tax, with no limit — this calculator assumes the estate is going to non-exempt beneficiaries (children, other relatives, friends) rather than a spouse. If you leave everything to your spouse, there's genuinely no IHT to pay at that point, but their unused allowance can then increase your spouse's own threshold when they later die — the 'transferred allowance' input above is exactly this scenario, from their perspective.

It's deliberately tapered away for estates over £2 million, at £1 for every £2 above that threshold — so it's fully gone by roughly £2.35 million (£2.7 million if you're also transferring a full unused allowance from a spouse). The main nil-rate band doesn't taper at all, however large the estate.

The full value of the estate before any reliefs or nil-rate bands are applied — not just the value of the home, and not the amount after deductions. A large estate can trigger the taper even if the home itself is relatively modest.

Yes — there's no time limit on claiming a transferred nil-rate band or residence nil-rate band from a spouse or civil partner who died at any point, even decades ago, as long as you can show how much of their allowance went unused (usually because they left some or all of their estate to you, which was itself exempt).

You only get the standard nil-rate band, not the residence nil-rate band — turn off the toggle above. The residence nil-rate band specifically requires a qualifying home passing to direct descendants (children, grandchildren, and some step/adopted/foster equivalents), not any other beneficiary or asset type.

Only if it's not written in trust. A policy written in trust pays out directly to your chosen beneficiaries, bypassing your estate entirely — it isn't counted here at all. A policy not in trust pays into your estate like any other asset, so it's added to the total and can push you over the tax-free thresholds. Most providers let you put a policy in trust for free when you take it out, which is why it's worth checking.

No — treat it as a planning estimate. It doesn't model potentially exempt transfers (gifts made in the 7 years before death, which can still be taxed on a sliding scale), business or agricultural relief, trusts, or the more detailed rules around exactly what counts as the 'baseline amount' for the charity rate. Always get professional advice for real estate planning or probate.