HMRC Inheritance Tax: Customer Guide

How do I value household and personal goods?

The term 'household and personal goods' means things such as furniture, pictures, paintings, china, TV, audio and video equipment, cameras, jewellery, cars, caravans, boats, antiques, stamp collections and so on. You do not have to get a professional valuation, although it might worth doing so if you think any items may be worth more than £500, or for items specifically mentioned in the will.

If you estimate the value, remember to use the open market value not an insurance or replacement value. A valuation 'for insurance', although a good place to start, may be the cost to replace the items and not necessarily a realistic price for which the items might be sold. The insurance value is often higher than the price you might reasonably expect to get for an item if you sold it on the open market.

A realistic price is likely to be the value the item might fetch if sold at auction, or through the local paper, or even at a car boot sale.