Do you need to fill in an IHT400?
Most estates never do. For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, an excepted estate reports its values through the probate application itself — on the two main routes there is no separate HMRC form at all. This checker works through the conditions with you and names the forms, whichever way the answer falls.
England and Wales · deaths on or after 1 January 2022 · guidance, not advice
Free · no account · answer never gatedWhen did they die?
The reporting rules changed twice — on 1 January 2022, and again on 6 April 2025. Which set applies is decided by the date of death, not by today's date.
The three doors, explained
For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, there are exactly three ways for an estate to be excepted from filing an inheritance tax account. Each is a separate, self-contained test — an estate only has to pass one of them.
The gross value of everything the person owned — before debts, including their share of anything owned jointly, plus gifts in the last seven years — is inside the threshold. Usually £325,000, or up to £650,000 with a transferred allowance from an earlier death.
Everything above the threshold passes to a spouse, civil partner or charity. This route can cover a far larger estate — up to £3,000,000 gross — because the exemption, not the size, is what keeps it out of the return.
The person never made the UK their permanent home, and left only limited UK assets — cash and quoted shares, worth £150,000 or less. This is the one route that still files its own HMRC form, IHT207.
What counts towards the value
Four things catch people out because they feel like they should not count — and do. Missing any one of them is the difference between a correct answer here and an estate that turns out not to have been excepted after all.
Exempt from tax, but still counted in the gross value that decides whether the estate is excepted at all. The single most-missed line in the whole test.
If they kept using something they gave away — still lived in the house, still used the item — the gift closes the excepted route however small the estate is.
A right to trust income counts even where no capital was ever received, and closes the route past a modest value depending on which route the estate is otherwise on.
On the low-value route the test is against the gross figure, before debts. An estate with a large mortgage can be well inside the tax thresholds and still fail this test.
If the estate is excepted: what you actually do
There is no separate tax form to send HMRC on the low-value or exempt routes. Four things to know, in order.
It means the net value minus anything left to a spouse, civil partner or charity. It is the figure that stops people — miss the subtraction and a genuinely excepted estate can look like it needs the full return.
If HMRC has not come back to you within 60 days of the grant being issued, the estate is discharged from inheritance tax — provided it genuinely met the conditions.
An estate excepted through the non-UK-resident route still files IHT207 (or C5(OUK) with the C1 in Scotland) — the one form that survived the 1 January 2022 changes.
If it is not: the IHT400 route and its deadlines
Filing an IHT400 does not mean tax is due — it means HMRC needs the full picture before probate can be applied for. Three deadlines govern the route from here, and they run regardless of each other.
Filing does not mean paying — but every date below runs regardless.
The IHT400 is due within a firm 12 months of the death.
Tax, where any is owed, is payable by the end of the sixth month after the month of death — interest runs from that date regardless of when the account is filed.
The wait after the IHT400 is sent, for HMRC's letter with the code and the gross and net values the probate application needs.
Executors who distribute the estate before the tax position is settled can be personally liable.
The edge of this checker
This checker applies the excepted-estate conditions to the answers you give. It cannot value an estate, and it cannot see a gift, a trust interest or an overseas account that nobody has told it about. Where the facts are uncertain the answer is indicative, not a clearance.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own confirmation/probate routes; the inheritance tax test is UK-wide but the application is not.
Excepted estates, answered.
What is an excepted estate?
An excepted estate is one that does not have to send an inheritance tax account to HMRC. The estate still has to be valued, and the values still go on the probate application — but there is no IHT400.
For deaths on or after 1 January 2022 there are three ways in: the estate is under the threshold, or everything above the threshold passes to a spouse, civil partner or charity, or the person never settled in the UK and left only limited UK assets. On the first two routes there is no separate tax form at all.
The third route is the exception: where the person was not a long-term UK resident, the information still goes to HMRC on form IHT207 (or C5(OUK) with the C1 in Scotland), which was not withdrawn when IHT205, IHT217 and C5 were.
The estate is excepted — do I still have to tell HMRC anything?
On the low-value and exempt routes, not separately. The figures go into the probate application itself: the gross value, the net value, and the net qualifying value. (The one exception is the non-UK-resident route, which still files form IHT207 — see the first question.) HMRC receives them from HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
If HMRC has not asked you for more within 60 days of the grant being issued, the estate is discharged — provided it genuinely met the conditions. That last clause matters: an estate that was never excepted is not protected by the 60 days.
What counts towards the £3 million limit?
Everything they owned at market value before any debts are taken off, including their share of anything owned jointly — plus gifts made in the seven years before death, including gifts to a spouse or charity. Debts and a mortgage do not reduce this figure. That is why an estate with a large mortgage can be well inside the tax thresholds and still fail the gross test.
Do gifts to my late mother's husband count against her?
Yes, for this test. Gifts to a spouse or civil partner are exempt from inheritance tax, but they are still counted in the gross value that decides whether an estate is excepted. It is the most commonly missed line in the whole test.
Can I use the transferable nil-rate band and still avoid the IHT400?
Yes. Since 1 January 2022 an estate can claim a transferred allowance from one earlier death and still be excepted, and it no longer has to be the whole 100% — a part share works too.
Two restrictions: the claim can reference only one earlier death, so a twice-widowed estate drawing on both allowances files the full account; and the transferred allowance has to be established from what actually happened at the first death.
Does claiming the home allowance mean I have to file an IHT400?
Yes. The residence nil-rate band — the extra allowance for a home passing to children or grandchildren — has to be claimed on form IHT435, which only exists as a schedule to the IHT400.
It cannot be used to bring an estate under the excepted-estate threshold. An estate that needs it to avoid tax is filing the full account, whatever its size.
What if I get this wrong and treat a non-excepted estate as excepted?
The estate is not discharged by the 60-day period, because that protection only applies where the conditions were actually met.
The correction route is to deliver the account late, with the reason. Penalties for a late account exist but HMRC's published practice is to consider reasonable excuse; interest on unpaid tax runs from the end of the sixth month after the month of death regardless.
This is one of the places where paying for an hour of a professional's time is cheaper than the alternative.
I have been told to fill in an IHT205. Is that right?
Only if the person died before 1 January 2022. IHT205, IHT217 and the Scottish C5 were withdrawn for deaths on or after that date, and the information they used to carry now sits in the probate application.
If a guide, a form pack or a bank is still pointing you at an IHT205 for a 2022-or-later death, it is out of date.
Inside Valoren, the same route this checker names feeds straight into the record it belongs to — so the next executor never has to work it out from scratch.
See what Valoren keeps current