For executors in England and Wales
Prepare your IHT400 without a solicitor
Upload the letters and statements you already have. EstateTally turns them into an estate inventory, fills in HMRC’s IHT400 and its schedules box by box and works out the tax — for you to check, sign and send.
The free check tells you whether an IHT400 is needed, which schedules and which documents. No sign-up.
Software to help you prepare your own IHT400. Not legal or tax advice. We do not apply for probate. Not affiliated with HMRC.
Figures for the 2026 to 2027 tax year
- Nil rate band
- £325,000, frozen until 5 April 2031
- Residence nil rate band
- up to £175,000 when a home goes to children or grandchildren; reduced for estates over £2,000,000
- Tax rate
- 40% above the bands (36% if at least 10% goes to charity)
- Tax due
- by the end of the sixth month after the month of death
- Late-payment interest
- 7.75% a year since 9 January 2026
Checked 5 October 2026. See rule changes.
How it works
Upload your letters and statements
Bank and building society letters, valuations, share statements, pension and insurance letters, bills and records of gifts — photos or PDFs. Account and National Insurance numbers are painted out before anything is stored or read.
Check the inventory and answer a few questions
Every value sits next to the part of the document it came from, so you can confirm or correct it. Then you answer questions about the will, a late husband, wife or civil partner, the home and any gifts.
Download the filled forms, checklist and cover letter
HMRC’s IHT400 and the schedules this estate needs, filled in box by box, with the tax worked out and checked for common mistakes. You read them through, sign them and post them.
What the £149 pack contains
One payment for one estate. The price you see is the price you pay — nothing is added at checkout.
- The IHT400 and the schedules this estate needs. HMRC’s own current forms from GOV.UK, filled in box by box from your inventory and answers. They stay editable.
- The IHT400 Calculation. The tax worked out step by step, including interest if you pay late and instalments on a house if you choose them. Where one figure is best left to HMRC, the pack says so.
- An inventory PDF. Every asset, debt and gift on one list, each with a reference to the document it came from.
- A box-by-box map. Which figure goes in which box, where it came from and the rule behind it, so you can check every line.
- A submission checklist. What to send, the copies to enclose, where to post it, and the dates: when the tax is due and when interest starts.
- A cover letter. A short letter to HMRC to send with the account, for you to sign.
- Deadline reminders. If you want them: e-mails before the tax is due and before the IHT400 deadline, when interest starts, and when HMRC’s probate code should have arrived.
Before you pay, you see a free preview of the inventory and the forms. The preview is watermarked and the amounts are hidden. After payment you can change your answers and download the pack again for 90 days.
How this compares with a solicitor
Some solicitors publish fixed fees for Inheritance Tax work. They are a different service: a solicitor gives advice and takes on the work, which software cannot do. These are their published prices for straightforward estates, as shown on their websites on 5 October 2026.
| Option | Price | What it includes | Timing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A solicitor checks an IHT400 you have filled in yourself | £300 + VAT, fixed fee | A professional review of your paperwork. You still fill in the forms. | Agreed with the firm. | Slee Blackwell Solicitors, “Preparing an Inheritance Tax account” (updated September 2026) |
| A solicitor prepares the IHT400 and submits the probate application | £1,250 + VAT, fixed fee | The firm prepares the account and makes the probate application for you. | Agreed with the firm. | Slee Blackwell Solicitors, “Preparing an Inheritance Tax account” (updated September 2026) |
| A law firm adds a full IHT400 account to its probate application service | £1,750 + VAT for the IHT400, on top of £1,250 + VAT for the probate application | The firm completes the IHT400 as part of its fixed-fee probate application service. | Agreed with the firm. | Slater and Gordon, “How much does probate cost?” |
| EstateTally | £149 per estate, one payment | Software: the inventory from your documents, HMRC’s forms filled in box by box, the tax worked out and checked. No advice, and no probate application. You check, sign and send the account yourself. | At your own pace, at any time of day. The filled forms are ready to download once you have paid. | Our price |
Firms’ prices change and more complex estates usually cost more. Whichever route you take, HMRC’s deadlines are the same, and HMRC’s forms are free on GOV.UK. If you fill in the IHT400 yourself without an adviser, HMRC will also work out the tax for you if you ask it to on the form.
How we treat your documents
- Account numbers, sort codes, National Insurance numbers and reference numbers are painted out before a page is stored and before our AI provider reads it. The original file is not kept.
- The painted pages are encrypted. They are deleted 7 days after you first download your pack (30 days after upload if you do not buy).
- The inventory is kept for 90 days so that you can come back to it, then deleted.
- You can delete a document, all documents or the whole estate at any time.
- Our server and our AI provider are in the USA. You agree to that separately before your first upload.
Details are in the privacy notice.
What we do not do
- We do not give legal or tax advice. Explanations describe the rules in general, with a reference to the law or HMRC’s manual.
- We do not apply for probate or prepare probate applications. You do that yourself once HMRC sends its code.
- We do not sign or send anything to HMRC for you. Every value and every claim is yours to check.
- We cover estates in England and Wales of people who died on or after 1 January 2022. Some estates need a professional — for example with business or farm relief, trusts or property abroad. The free check tells you before you pay.
More about us and how the software is built.
Questions executors ask
Do I need to fill in an IHT400?
Not if the estate is an “excepted estate”. For deaths on or after 1 January 2022 that broadly means the estate is worth no more than £325,000 (up to £650,000 when a late husband’s, wife’s or civil partner’s unused nil rate band transfers), or it is worth no more than £3,000,000 and everything above £325,000 goes to a spouse, civil partner or charity — and some further conditions about gifts, trusts and foreign assets are met. The residence nil rate band does not count when deciding this, so an estate that only avoids tax because of it needs an IHT400. The free check goes through the conditions with you.
When is the IHT400 due, and when does the tax have to be paid?
The tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the month of death — for a death in January, by 31 July. Interest is charged from the next day. The IHT400 has to be sent within 12 months (the law counts them from the end of the month of death). Tax that is not being paid in instalments has to be paid before probate can be granted, so many executors send the account and the payment together. HMRC usually sends the code needed for the probate application within 20 working days of receiving the IHT400 or the payment, whichever is later.
How much interest does HMRC charge if the tax is paid late?
Since 9 January 2026 the rate is 7.75% a year: the Bank of England’s Bank Rate plus 4%. Interest is worked out day by day from the first day of the seventh month after the month of death until the day the tax is paid, and the rate changes when Bank Rate changes. For example, interest on £10,000 of tax paid on 31 October instead of by 31 July is £194.80 for the 92 days.
Can the tax be paid from the deceased’s bank account before probate?
Often, yes. Under the Direct Payment Scheme, banks, building societies and National Savings and Investments that take part can pay Inheritance Tax straight to HMRC from accounts in the deceased’s sole name, before probate is granted. You fill in a separate Schedule IHT423 for each account and send it to the bank, not to HMRC. You need an Inheritance Tax reference number first; HMRC asks you to apply for it at least 3 weeks before you pay.
What do I do about gifts the person made before they died?
Gifts made in the 7 years before death are listed on Schedule IHT403. Some are exempt: £3,000 in each tax year (plus any unused part of the previous year’s £3,000), gifts of up to £250 to any one person in a tax year, wedding gifts within set limits, and gifts to a spouse, civil partner or charity. Regular gifts can also be exempt as “normal expenditure out of income” if they were part of a pattern, came out of income rather than savings, and left the person enough to live on as usual — the executor decides whether that was so and keeps the evidence. Other gifts use up the nil rate band first, oldest first.
Can the unused allowances of a husband, wife or civil partner who died first be used?
Yes, if they were not fully used on the first death. The unused share of the nil rate band transfers with Schedule IHT402, and the unused share of the residence nil rate band with Schedule IHT436. Both are worked out as percentages, so a fully unused nil rate band adds £325,000, and a fully unused residence nil rate band adds up to £175,000 when the home goes to children or grandchildren. The claims are made with the IHT400, within 2 years from the end of the month of death.
Is EstateTally a solicitor? Will you apply for probate?
No. EstateTally is software made by Northpine Labs LLC. We are not a law firm, we do not give legal or tax advice, and we are not affiliated with HMRC. We do not prepare or submit probate applications. You check the forms, sign them and send them to HMRC yourself, and you apply for probate yourself.
What happens to the documents I upload?
Before anything is stored or read, account numbers, sort codes, National Insurance numbers and similar numbers are painted out. The pages are kept encrypted and are deleted 7 days after you first download your pack (or 30 days after upload if you do not buy), or whenever you delete them. The inventory is kept for 90 days so that you can come back to it.
Start with the free check
Answer a few questions about the estate. You will see whether an IHT400 is needed, which schedules and documents apply, a rough idea of the tax and the key dates.
Software to help you prepare your own IHT400. Not legal or tax advice. We do not apply for probate. Not affiliated with HMRC.