Inheritance Tax Threshold 2026/27: Every Band Explained

What gov.uk's own thresholds table says

HMRC publishes a dedicated “Rates and allowances: Inheritance Tax thresholds and interest rates” page. Read live for this guide, it lists the nil-rate band at £325,000 for every tax year from 6 April 2009 to 5 April 2031 — a 22-year freeze once it runs its course. The same table lists the residence nil-rate band at £175,000 from 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2030. Both are simply held, not indexed to inflation, which is the entire reason more estates cross the line each year even though nothing about the rules has changed — house prices rise, the threshold doesn't.

Why the two bands have different end dates on HMRC's own table

It's a small but genuine detail worth flagging rather than smoothing over: gov.uk's thresholds table shows the ordinary nil-rate band frozen one tax year longer (to 5 April 2031) than the residence nil-rate band (to 5 April 2030), because the two freezes were legislated in separate Budgets. Nothing about the current 2026/27 figures changes as a result — both still stand at £325,000 and £175,000 this year — but don't assume the two bands will necessarily move together when either freeze period ends.

Combining the thresholds

The last row is the figure most quoted in the press as “no Inheritance Tax up to £1,000,000” for a married couple — it's real, but it only applies in full when both the nil-rate band and the residence band transfer completely from the first death, and the home genuinely passes to direct descendants. See our worked example for how the claim actually works.

What pushes an estate over the threshold

Everything the deceased owned counts toward the net estate figure that the thresholds and the taper are measured against — not just the home. For a landlord that means every rental property at its full market value, with no relief for being let out (see our rental-property guide), plus savings, investments, life insurance not written in trust, and gifts made in the previous 7 years that haven't dropped out of the estate. A modest home combined with even one or two buy-to-lets can put an estate well past £325,000 long before the family realises it.

What a frozen threshold means for a landlord's planning

A frozen nil-rate band interacts badly with rising property values in a way many landlords don't notice until it's too late to do anything gentle about it. Buy-to-let prices have moved a long way since 2009 without the £325,000 threshold moving at all, so a portfolio that comfortably sat inside the threshold a decade ago can now sit well outside it without a single new purchase — the same houses, just worth more. Reviewing where your estate stands against the current thresholds every few years, rather than assuming an old family plan still holds, is the single most useful habit this freeze creates. Our Inheritance Tax calculator is the fastest way to check where a portfolio actually sits today, not where it sat when a will was last written.

This is a guide, not financial, tax or legal advice. Figures are estimates from the published rates and thresholds, which change with each Budget. Your own position depends on facts a guide can't see — check anything that matters against gov.uk guidance or a qualified adviser before you act on it.

gov.uk / HMRC: Inheritance Tax thresholds and interest rates (nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band freeze periods) · gov.uk: Inheritance Tax · HMRC: residence nil-rate band, all read verbatim 11 Sep 2026. Figures match site/taxdata.py — no conflicts found.