Autumn Budget implications for legacy giving

Technical amendments to planned inclusion of pensions in the scope of Inheritance Tax 

This year’s Budget announcement revealed no major surprises for Inheritance Tax or charitable legacies. The much-valued charitable tax incentives for legacy giving remain in place and plans are progressing to bring unused pension assets into the scope of Inheritance Tax (IHT) from April 2027.

However, the accompanying tax legislation package did introduce two technical amendments, including the option of a separate component for calculating the reduced 36% IHT rate on charitable estates.

While details are limited at this stage and further clarity is needed, we are hopeful that this new component will alleviate the disparity between pension and non pension assets, helping to preserve people’s charitable intentions and ensure that qualifying estates can continue to access the reduced IHT rate within the new pension IHT framework.

Further details are expected from HMRC shortly and we will share future updates.

You can read about the incoming IHT changes from April 2027 here. For more on the technical amendments, see section 1.27 of the HMRC Policy Paper - Overview of tax legislation and rates.