How to declare assets outside the UK using schedule IHT417
If the person who died was within worldwide UK IHT scope, every asset outside the UK belongs on schedule IHT417.
For deaths on or after 6 April 2025 that scope test is long-term UK residence — broadly, 10 of the last 20 tax years — rather than domicile.
The Spanish apartment, the Irish bank account, the US brokerage, the Jersey holdings: all of it (the Channel Islands count as outside the UK, too).
Foreign assets bring their own mechanics: date-of-death exchange rates, foreign debts, the credit system for foreign death taxes, and the practical grind of getting valuations out of overseas institutions.
This walkthrough covers who is in scope, what counts as foreign, how to value and convert, and how foreign taxes are actually relieved.
✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last revised this form 11 February 2026IHT417 on GOV.UK ↗
United Kingdom·Informational, not legal or financial advice·Official source: GOV.UK
✓Official form · always current
This is the same official IHT417 file HM Revenue & Customs publishes on GOV.UK — the link below fetches the current version live from GOV.UK the moment you click it, so it can never go out of date.
Current version: February 2026 · confirmed on GOV.UK 23 August 2026
This walkthrough takes IHT417 field by field, in plain English. Listing the assets is usually the easy part; the hard part is knowing whether worldwide assets are in scope at all, and never mistaking foreign death tax for a deductible debt.
The thing most people get wrong
Deducting foreign inheritance or estate tax as if it were a debt of the estate.
Foreign death taxes are never a liability on the IHT400 — they are relieved by credit: under the relevant double taxation convention where one exists, otherwise by unilateral relief under s.159, and the credit is capped so it cannot exceed the UK tax attributable to the same asset.
Getting this wrong both understates the estate and forfeits the correct relief route — and it is the single most common error on this schedule.
The form, in summary
Valoren
IHT417·4 pages·35 fields guided
With Valoren1 hour
Without Valoren2–6 hours
obtaining date-of-death foreign valuations and statements is the slow part — foreign institutions answer at their own pace
Whether worldwide assets are within UK IHT depends on the deceased's connection to the UK at death.
For deaths on or after 6 April 2025 the test is long-term UK residence — having been UK-resident for at least 10 of the 20 tax years immediately before the tax year of death — while for earlier deaths it was domicile or deemed domicile (15 of the previous 20 years).
Where worldwide scope applies, IHT417 declares every asset outside the UK: foreign bank accounts, property, investments, and business interests.
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man count as outside the UK for this purpose.
Values are returned in the foreign currency with the exchange rate applied at the date of death, and foreign death taxes are relieved by credit — under a treaty where one exists, otherwise unilaterally — never by deducting them as a debt.
·Who Files — The executor or administrator, as part of the IHT400 account
·4 pages · 35 fields guided
·Draws from your Estate File — Financial Accounts, Property Folio, Civil Dossier
Section01
§11
Section 1
Who is in scope — residence, not domicile
The first question is not 'what is abroad?' but 'does UK IHT reach abroad at all?' The connecting factor changed for deaths on or after 6 April 2025.
01
Deaths on or after 6 April 2025 — long-term UK residence
Worldwide scope applies where the deceased was a long-term UK resident — UK-resident for at least 10 of the 20 tax years immediately before the tax year of death.
Someone who left the UK does not fall out of scope immediately: a 'tail' keeps worldwide assets chargeable for a period after departure.
Ten to thirteen years of prior residence gives a minimum 3-tax-year tail; the tail lengthens by one tax year for each additional year of residence beyond that, up to a maximum of 10 tax years for someone who was resident throughout all 20 years.
02
Deaths before 6 April 2025 — domicile
The old test: UK domicile or deemed domicile, including the deemed-domicile rule (UK-resident for 15 of the previous 20 tax years, in force from 6 April 2017) and the formerly-domiciled-resident rules.
Estates straddling advice given under the old regime should not assume the old analysis still holds — the connecting factor itself changed on 6 April 2025.
03
Out of scope — excluded property
Where the deceased was outside the scope test, foreign-situated property is excluded property (s.6) and only UK-situated assets are chargeable.
Situs then matters enormously: registered shares sit where the register is, bank accounts where the branch is, debts (generally) where the debtor resides.
Do not guess situs for anything substantial.
The first question is not 'what is abroad?' but 'does UK IHT reach abroad at all?' The connecting factor changed for deaths on or after 6 April 2025.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) · IHT417❦
Section02
§22
Section 2
What goes on the form — and what counts as 'outside the UK'
Everything outside the UK, in the foreign currency, with the sterling conversion shown.
01
The asset tables
Foreign houses and land, bank and savings accounts, shares and investments, business interests, and anything else situated abroad — each with a description, the foreign-currency value at death, the exchange rate, and the sterling value.
Two-column sections handle foreign debts and exemptions/reliefs claimed against foreign assets.
02
The Channel Islands and Isle of Man
Both count as outside the UK for this schedule.
Jersey and Guernsey accounts and Manx holdings go on IHT417, not on the UK bank-accounts schedule — a small point that regularly sends estates back to redo schedules.
03
Foreign debts
Debts owed abroad — a mortgage on the foreign property, foreign tax liabilities accrued before death (income tax, local property taxes) — are deducted here against the foreign estate, in the same currency-then-convert manner.
Foreign death taxes are NOT debts; see the relief section.
Everything outside the UK, in the foreign currency, with the sterling conversion shown.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) · IHT417❦
Section03
§33
Section 3
Foreign death taxes — credit, never deduction
The most commonly mishandled mechanic on the schedule.
01
Treaty relief
The UK has estate/inheritance tax conventions with a small set of countries (including the US, France, and a handful of others).
Where one applies, the treaty determines which country taxes what and how the credit works — and can override the domestic rules, including for the pre-2025 domicile question.
Identify the treaty position before paying anyone.
02
Unilateral relief (s.159)
Where no treaty applies, UK law credits the foreign tax charged on the foreign property against the UK IHT on the same property.
The credit is capped at the UK tax attributable to that property — if the foreign rate is higher, the excess is simply borne.
Proof of the foreign assessment and payment is required.
03
Timing
Foreign tax often becomes payable on a different timetable from UK IHT.
The UK account should not be delayed waiting for the foreign assessment — file with the best figures, claim the credit, and amend when the foreign position is finalised.
Interest on UK tax does not pause for a foreign tax office.
The most commonly mishandled mechanic on the schedule.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) · IHT417❦
Section04
§44
Section 4
The practical grind — valuations, grants, and local law
The form is straightforward once the numbers exist. Getting the numbers is the work.
01
Date-of-death evidence from foreign institutions
Write early, in parallel, to every foreign bank, broker and registry: a date-of-death balance or valuation, in the account currency.
Many institutions will not correspond until they see a local grant or notarised authority — ask what they need in the first letter, not the third.
02
Foreign succession law
Forced heirship (much of Europe), community property (several US states and civil-law countries), and local wills can change who actually inherits the foreign asset — which affects exemptions (a spouse exemption claim needs the spouse actually to inherit).
Where a foreign will exists, say so on the form and keep the two successions consistent.
03
When to bring in specialists
A single foreign bank account is manageable unaided.
Foreign real property, a foreign business, or a US brokerage of any size is specialist territory — cross-border estates are where the cost of an early, focused professional engagement is reliably lower than the cost of unwinding mistakes.
The form is straightforward once the numbers exist. Getting the numbers is the work.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) · IHT417❦
Many people file IHT417 themselves — that is what this walkthrough is for. If the estate behind it has stopped being simple — inheritance tax to pay, a trust, foreign assets, a dispute — Signum, Valoren’s own specialist desk, can take it on, and we say so plainly: it starts with a free intake, and if you do not need us, we will tell you. Prefer an independent adviser? STEP and the Chartered Institute of Taxation both keep public member directories, and neither pays Valoren a referral fee.
FAQ
IHT417 questions, answered.
For deaths on or after 6 April 2025: was the deceased a long-term UK resident — UK-resident in at least 10 of the 20 tax years immediately before the tax year of death?
If yes, worldwide assets are in scope and IHT417 is needed.
For deaths before that date, the question was domicile or deemed domicile (broadly, 15 of the previous 20 years).
If the deceased was outside the scope test, only UK-situated assets are chargeable and this schedule may not be needed — but the situs rules for what counts as 'UK-situated' have their own traps (registered shares, debts, bank accounts), so check before skipping it.
The rate at the date of death.
List each asset in its foreign currency, show the rate applied, and carry the sterling figure across.
Do not use the rate at the date you complete the form, and do not net assets and debts before converting — the form's columns want the workings visible.
By credit, not deduction.
Where the UK has a double taxation convention covering death taxes with that country, the treaty allocates taxing rights and provides the credit; otherwise unilateral relief under s.159 credits the foreign tax against the UK tax on the same property, capped at the UK tax on that property.
Keep the foreign tax assessment and proof of payment — HMRC will want both.
Usually, yes — a UK grant rarely moves foreign land or accounts by itself.
Civil-law countries (Spain, France) work through notaries and forced-heirship rules; some Commonwealth jurisdictions can reseal a UK grant; the US needs its own process per state.
Start the foreign process early and expect the foreign timetable, not the UK one, to be the bottleneck for those assets.
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Where this fits
IHT417 is one form. The file behind it is the rest.
The schedule is only as good as the asset list behind it.
The Financial Accounts record captures the foreign accounts, platforms and pensions with their institutions and references; the Property Folio holds the overseas property with its ownership structure — which is exactly what the four-column foreign-asset tables ask for.
When you're ready — not before — our £179 Executor's First Hour walks you through registering the death, notifying banks and pensions, and getting probate started, in the right order. The free checklist above covers the essentials; this is for when you'd rather have a hand to hold. Executor's First Hour — £179 →
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)·35 fields·No separate fee — supplementary schedule filed with IHT400·1 hour with Valoren
The return this attaches to
This is one schedule. It attaches to the IHT400 — the main Inheritance Tax account — which is where every schedule you complete comes together.