As part of the Autumn 2024 Budget, the government introduced reforms aimed at making the Inheritance Tax system fairer and less prone to tax avoidance.

The government has confirmed that from April 2027, unused pension funds and most death benefits will count towards a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax.

The government has now responded to industry consultation for how these reforms might work in practice – key points from the consultation response include:

• Under the original proposals, dependant’s pensions from defined benefit and collective defined contribution schemes (such as pensions for member’s spouse, civil partner or child) were excluded from the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. In their consultation response, the government confirmed death in service benefits will also be excluded.
• It will be the responsibility of the executor or personal representative to report and pay any tax due to HMRC – not the pension scheme.
  
• Personal representatives, executors or beneficiaries will be able to ask the pension scheme to pay any tax due to HMRC on their behalf.
  

These changes are part of wider efforts to ensure the system is fair and pensions are used to save for an individual’s retirement, as intended. You can read more about these measures on the government’s website.