This calculator estimates the inheritance tax on your estate using 2026/27 thresholds: a £325,000 nil-rate band (2026/27, frozen to 5 April 2031), a £175,000 residence nil-rate band (2026/27, frozen to 5 April 2031) where your home passes to children or grandchildren, and tax at 40%, or 36% if you leave 10% or more of your net estate to charity. It gives you two answers side by side: your position today, and your position for deaths on or after 6 April 2027, when unused pension pots join the taxable estate under Finance Act 2026. Vision Consulting is a London firm of ICAEW Chartered Accountants, licensed by the ICAEW for non-contentious probate.
Figures checked 5 September 2026Last updated September 2026Figures: 2026/27, sourced from GOV.UK
How to use it
Enter your share of your home, any mortgage secured on it, your other assets, any unused defined contribution pension pots, and your other debts. Tick the boxes that apply, and if you are leaving a gift to charity, enter the amount.
If you are widowed and your late spouse or civil partner left everything to you, choose the widowed option: both allowances can double, to £650,000 and £350,000 (2026/27).
Press the button and read both columns.
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Estimate your inheritance tax
Inheritance Tax · 2026/27
What might your estate owe?
Estimate your inheritance tax now, and under the rules that bring unused pensions into your estate from April 2027. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Married couples normally pay no tax on the first death, because assets passing to a spouse or civil partner are exempt. The bill usually falls on the second death: to estimate that, choose "Widowed" and enter the couple's combined estate.
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Enter it here, not below. A mortgage reduces the value of the home the residence nil-rate band is measured against.
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The calculator works out whether that gift meets the 10% test for the reduced 36% rate, rather than assuming it does.
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Today (2026/27)
Deaths on or after 6 April 2027
Not modelled: the spouse or civil partner exemption on the first death, trusts, business or agricultural property (including the £2.5m combined APR and BPR relief allowance that applies from 6 April 2026), gifts made in the last 7 years, foreign assets, and the downsizing addition where a home was sold or given away on or after 8 July 2015. The 10% charity test is applied to your estate as a single component; the legislation tests the survivorship, settled property and general components separately, so a will needs checking against the statutory formula. A gift to charity is treated as coming out of your other assets rather than out of your home, and in the 2027 column it can come out of the estate as a whole, including unused pensions; whether a pension death benefit can pass to a charity depends on the scheme rules and on your nomination. Estimates only. Both columns use the 2026/27 thresholds, which are held at those levels to 5 April 2031. Figures checked 5 September 2026. Sources: GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax, GOV.UK: residence nil rate band, GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax thresholds and HMRC's pensions technical note. This is general information, not advice. Your position depends on your circumstances. Speak to us before acting.
Why there are two columns
Finance Act 2026 (Royal Assent 18 March 2026) brings unused pension funds and death benefits into the inheritance tax estate for deaths on or after 6 April 2027, with personal representatives responsible for reporting and paying. For many families this is the single biggest change to estate values in a generation, which is why the calculator shows it explicitly rather than hiding it in a footnote. Source: HMRC's technical note on inheritance tax and pensions, on GOV.UK.
What the calculator assumes, and what it leaves out
It applies the residence nil-rate band only where the home passes to direct descendants, caps it at the value of the home after any mortgage secured on it, tapers it by £1 for every £2 the net estate exceeds £2 million, and tests a charitable gift against the 10% rule before applying the 36% rate. It does not model:
Trusts.
Business or agricultural property (including the £2.5 million APR/BPR relief allowance that applies from 6 April 2026).
Gifts made in the last 7 years.
Foreign assets. If any of those apply to you, the real answer can be very different.
Figures are correct as at 5 September 2026; the authority is GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax.
Frequently asked questions
Whatever percentage of the £325,000 nil-rate band (2026/27) your late spouse or civil partner did not use can be transferred to your estate, up to a maximum of 100%, giving up to £650,000. The same applies to the £175,000 residence nil-rate band, giving up to £350,000. Your executors claim the transfer after your death. This calculator assumes a full 100% transfer when you pick the widowed option; a partial transfer needs a manual calculation.
The residence nil-rate band tapers away by £1 for every £2 your net estate exceeds £2 million. A single person's £175,000 (2026/27) is fully gone at about £2.35 million. From 6 April 2027 unused pensions count toward that estate value, so a pension can taper away an allowance the house had previously secured.
For deaths on or after 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits form part of the estate for inheritance tax (Finance Act 2026). Personal representatives, not pension scheme administrators, are responsible for reporting and paying the tax. Death-in-service benefits and dependants' scheme pensions are among the exclusions; the detail sits in HMRC's technical note on inheritance tax and pensions.
If you leave at least 10% of the baseline amount to UK charity, the rest of the taxable estate is charged at 36% instead of 40%. The baseline amount is broadly your estate less the nil-rate band, before the residence nil-rate band, with the gift itself added back. Enter the gift in the calculator and it tests the 10% rule for you rather than assuming it is met. The legislation tests each component of an estate separately, so a will still needs checking against the statutory formula.
Yes, and the calculator deliberately does not model them. Gifts within 7 years of death can use up your nil-rate band before the estate gets it, and gifts over the nil-rate band attract their own tapered tax charge. Keep a record of what you give and when, and take advice if you have made substantial gifts.
Speak to an expert
Chloe Symmonds
Senior Manager · Inheritance tax, estates and probate
