Free tool
Inheritance Tax Residence Tail Calculator
Inheritance tax became residence-based in April 2025. See whether your worldwide estate is in scope, and, if you leave the UK, how many years it stays in UK inheritance tax before your foreign assets fall out.
Count the tax years in which you were UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test.
From 6 April 2025 UK inheritance tax is residence-based. You are a long-term resident, with your worldwide estate in scope, once UK resident for 10 of the last 20 years. Indicative only.
Your UK inheritance tax exposure
Long-term resident: a 3-year IHT tail after you leave
- You have been UK resident for 12 of the last 20 tax years, so you are a long-term resident and your WORLDWIDE estate is within UK inheritance tax.
- If you left the UK now, your worldwide estate would stay within UK inheritance tax for a tail of about 3 tax years before your non-UK assets fall out of scope.
- The tail runs from 3 years (for 10 to 13 years of residence) up to 10 years (for 20 years), so leaving earlier shortens the exposure.
- This is exactly where lifetime planning, gifting and trust structuring earn their keep. The position also interacts with any trusts you have settled, which now follow the same residence-based test.
Email me my full breakdown + what it means for me
We'll send your result, the reasoning, and a short note on the next steps for your situation. No obligation.
How the residence-based rules work
Until April 2025, UK inheritance tax turned on domicile. From 6 April 2025 it turns on residence. You are a long-term resident, with your entire worldwide estate within UK inheritance tax, once you have been UK resident for at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years.
Crucially, leaving does not switch it off straight away. Your worldwide estate stays in scope for a tail that runs from 3 years, for someone resident 10 to 13 of the last 20 years, up to 10 years for someone resident for the full 20. The longer you were here, the longer the tail, so the timing of a departure and of any lifetime gifts or trust planning can make a large difference. This tool gives an indication only, and the position interacts with any trusts you have settled.
Plan the tail down
A long IHT tail is not fixed in stone: departure timing, gifting and trust structuring can shorten your exposure materially. We model it and plan around it, on a fixed fee agreed upfront. Book a free clarity call.