Guides for executors
How the IHT400 and its schedules work, in plain English, with the box numbers, worked examples and links to the law and HMRC’s guidance. Each guide says when its facts were last checked.
Not sure where to start? The free check tells you whether the estate needs an IHT400 and which schedules apply.
Start here
Whether you need an IHT400 at all, and how the form fits together.
IHT400
How to fill in IHT400: a step-by-step guide
Step-by-step help for executors filling in HMRC’s IHT400: which boxes, which schedules, working out the tax, signing and sending it, with a worked example.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT400
Excepted estates: when you do not need an IHT400
When an estate needs no IHT400: the £325,000, £650,000 and £3 million limits, the rules on gifts, trusts and foreign assets, and why the RNRB does not count.
Last checked 5 October 2026
The schedules
The supplementary forms most executors meet, box by box.
IHT403
IHT403: gifts and normal expenditure out of income
How to fill in Schedule IHT403: gifts in the 7 years before death, the annual, small and wedding exemptions, normal expenditure out of income and taper relief.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT402
IHT402: transferring a late spouse’s unused nil rate band
How to claim a late spouse’s or civil partner’s unused nil rate band on Schedule IHT402: boxes 9 to 21, the percentage, the time limit and a worked example.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT435 · IHT436
IHT435 and IHT436: the residence nil rate band
How to claim the residence nil rate band on IHT435 and a late spouse’s unused share on IHT436: direct descendants, the £2 million taper and the boxes.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT405
IHT405: houses, land and buildings
How to fill in Schedule IHT405 for a house or land: the value at the date of death, which IHT400 boxes, the mortgage, instalments and selling the house.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT407 · IHT408
IHT407: household and personal goods
How to fill in Schedule IHT407: valuing furniture, jewellery, cars and collections at open market value, what to list separately, and giving goods to charity.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT411
IHT411: listed stocks and shares
How to fill in Schedule IHT411: valuing listed shares with the quarter-up price, unit trusts, ISAs and dividends, and where the totals go on the IHT400.
Last checked 5 October 2026
Paying the tax
Deadlines, interest and the ways to pay before probate.
IHT423
IHT423 Direct Payment Scheme: paying IHT before probate
How executors use Schedule IHT423 to pay Inheritance Tax from the deceased’s sole-name bank, building society or NS&I accounts before probate, step by step.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT400 · IHT423
Paying Inheritance Tax before probate: steps and options
Why Inheritance Tax is paid before probate, the order of steps, the ways to pay (Direct Payment Scheme, own funds, instalments) and when HMRC sends the code.
Last checked 5 October 2026
IHT400
Inheritance Tax interest and late payment: rates and rules
How interest on late Inheritance Tax works: when it starts, the current rate, HMRC’s day count with worked examples, instalments and late-filing penalties.
Last checked 5 October 2026
Changes ahead
Rules that are changing, and what has not been published yet.
IHT409
Pensions and Inheritance Tax from April 2027: what executors must do
From 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds count for Inheritance Tax. What executors must do: scheme values, tax per scheme, withholding and payment notices.
Last checked 5 October 2026
Prefer the forms filled in for you?
Upload the letters and statements you already have. We read them into an estate inventory, fill in the IHT400 and its schedules box by box and check the figures. You see a preview before you pay.
Software to help you prepare your own IHT400. Not legal or tax advice. We do not apply for probate. Not affiliated with HMRC.