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Death benefits & inheritance tax

Get clear, practical guidance on pension death benefits, including payment options, tax rules, and inheritance tax. Stay informed and give your clients confident, compliant advice.

Important Information

Legislation has been enacted to treat unused pension funds and certain pension death benefits as forming part of an individual’s estate for inheritance tax purposes, for deaths on or after 6 April 2027. These provisions are given statutory effect by the Finance Act 2026.

More detail can be found in our article Pension death benefits and inheritance tax changes from April 2027.

Continuing professional development

CPD | Pensions death benefit taxation and IHT

In this webinar we explain the impact of the lifetime allowance abolition on death benefits, share insights from the 21 July 2025 consultation, and outline IHT payment options for Personal Representatives and beneficiaries.

CPD | Putting protection on the wealth agenda

In this webinar we discuss the importance of protection in holistic financial planning. It outlines the main protection risks faced by customers and explains how protection solutions can support clients in safeguarding their financial resilience.

Inheritance tax overview

When undertaking tax planning for clients understanding the normal expenditure out of income exemption is essential.

In her Autumn 2024 Budget statement, Rachel Reeves announced the government’s intention to bring unused pension funds and death benefits within the value of an individual’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027.

We look at the changes announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 around inheritance tax business property relief and agriculture property relief. 

UK Inheritance Tax being based on domicile changed from 6 April 2025. Instead, whether an individual pays UK inheritance tax (‘IHT’) will be based on residence. This article looks at our understanding of this change.

Gifts made to anyone from your client’s estate are exempt from inheritance tax provided they survive for a period of 7 years from the date the gift is made. Here we explain how this works.

The House of Commons has produced a briefing paper on inheriting both state and private pension rights.

Calculate any potential inheritance tax liability based on an individual's assets and liabilities using our calculator.

Trusts overview

A spousal bypass trust can be used to stop death benefits falling into the surviving spouse’s estate. Here we explain how this type of trust works.

Understanding the rules of intestacy in the UK

Use our easy-to-follow flowcharts and article to help you explain to clients what would happen if they died without a will.

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