Inheritance Tax
(asked on 15th July 2026) - View Source
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken by HM Revenue and Customs is to issue a clearance certificate in respect of a deceased person's estate after tax due has been paid; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce that time.
This question was answered on 4th September 2026
Most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought into the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes from 6 April 2027. Most estates will continue to have no IHT liability, even after these changes have come into effect. HMRC has published a Tax Information and Impact Note on these changes, which includes details of the expected operational impact on HMRC. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits HMRC’s service standard is to process 80% of applications for clearance for IHT within 15 working days. In the first quarter of 2026/27, HMRC processed 93% of clearance applications using Form IHT30 within 15 working days. On 17 June 2025, HMRC introduced a new Bereavement Helpline to provide a central service to support customers dealing with the tax affairs of someone who has died. The average speed of answer for the Bereavement Helpline in 2025/26 (between 17 June 2025 to March 2026) was 7 minutes 58 seconds. From April to June 2026, the average speed of answer was 5 minutes 4 seconds.
Most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought into the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes from 6 April 2027. Most estates will continue to have no IHT liability, even after these changes have come into effect. HMRC has published a Tax Information and Impact Note on these changes, which includes details of the expected operational impact on HMRC. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits HMRC’s service standard is to process 80% of applications for clearance for IHT within 15 working days. In the first quarter of 2026/27, HMRC processed 93% of clearance applications using Form IHT30 within 15 working days. On 17 June 2025, HMRC introduced a new Bereavement Helpline to provide a central service to support customers dealing with the tax affairs of someone who has died. The average speed of answer for the Bereavement Helpline in 2025/26 (between 17 June 2025 to March 2026) was 7 minutes 58 seconds. From April to June 2026, the average speed of answer was 5 minutes 4 seconds.