HMRC Inheritance Tax: Customer Guide

Can I recover IHT I have paid for someone else?

Yes. The people who paid the tax may not be the ones who were liable.
There is provision for you to recover any

• inheritance tax,
• interest charged, and
• costs

you properly incurred in relation to it, from those who should have paid it.

You may also recover any inheritance tax you have paid out of the estate from any person on whose behalf you have paid it. When you do this, you should take the terms of the Will into account. If an asset is 'free of tax' the burden of tax should fall on the residue of the estate, not on the asset itself.