# IHT409: pensions, death benefits and recent changes

- **Canonical URL:** https://formspedia.com/uk/iht409/
- **Country & Language:** United Kingdom (`en-GB`)
- **Form:** IHT409
- **Revision:** HMRC 09/23
- **Issuing Agency:** HM Revenue and Customs
- **Tax Area:** Estates, trusts and inheritance
- **Official Form PDF:** https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6515461a6a423b000df4c501/IHT409.pdf

A pension can require an IHT409 even when its payments are not chargeable to Inheritance Tax. HMRC's examination guidance says to complete the schedule where the deceased received, or had provided for, a pension other than the State Pension, and to use a separate schedule for each arrangement.

### Who completes the pension schedule?

The person preparing the estate's IHT400, or their agent, uses IHT409 for employer pensions and personal pension policies. The State Pension is excluded from the scope stated on the form. This guide follows the HMRC 09/23 version, which has 24 questions across three pages.

Collect information from the pension provider about payments after death, death benefits, transfers and contributions. The provider's description of who could choose the recipient is relevant: question 12 asks specifically about trustees' discretion.

IHT409 deals with pensions. A debt owed to the deceased is reported through the separate [IHT416](/uk/iht416/) schedule when applicable; the fact that both items involve money due to an estate does not make them the same category.

### Which continuing payments go in boxes 1 to 7?

Question 1 has explicit exclusions. Answer No when the only payments were small pension arrears up to death, a reduced survivor's pension, or payments made solely because the provider had not yet learned of the death. The form directs small arrears to IHT400 box 56.

| Question | Information required | Where to obtain it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Whether qualifying pension payments continued after death | Provider's payment history and explanation |
| 2–3 | Scheme or policy name and HMRC registration status | Scheme administrator or policy documents |
| 4–6 | Payment amounts and frequency, final guaranteed date, and any increases | Guarantee terms and payment schedule |
| 7 | Value of the remaining right to payments | The annuity calculation specified by HMRC |

If question 1 is No, the form sends you to question 8. If the continuing-payment section applies, box 7's value is included in IHT400 box 56. HMRC links its guaranteed-annuity calculator beside that box.

### Death benefits and the route to box 15

Question 8 asks whether a death benefit was payable. A No answer sends you to question 17. Use a separate form for each death benefit payment, as instructed at the start of this section.

Questions 9 to 11 distinguish benefits paid to personal representatives in specified circumstances and benefits subject to a binding nomination. Follow their routing instructions. Question 12 then asks whether trustees had discretion over the recipient; question 13 identifies the scheme and question 14 asks about registration.

Box 15 records the benefit amount. Its instruction says to include that amount in IHT400 box 56 unless question 12 was answered Yes. Box 16 identifies the recipient and their relationship to the deceased. Do not decide the answer to the discretion question from the recipient's identity alone.

### Transfers and contributions in the two years before death

Questions 17 and 18 cover transfers, disposals and changes to benefits within two years before death. If both answers are No, proceed to question 22. Otherwise identify the scheme, answer its registration question and enter the relevant dates in question 21.

The September 2023 wording directs the details of transfers or changes to page 16 of IHT400. Questions 22 to 24 separately ask about contributions by the deceased or their employer during that two-year period, who made them, and their dates and amounts.

### Send IHT409 with the account

HMRC's publication page requires IHT400 to accompany IHT409 and gives the destination as Inheritance Tax, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1HT. Use the official form and the IHT400 notes together. Pension arrangements with disputed benefit rights or transfers require advice on the underlying tax treatment; a completed schedule alone does not determine that treatment.

### Sources

- [IHT409 - Continuing pension payments](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6515461a6a423b000df4c501/IHT409.pdf)

- [Inheritance Tax: pensions (IHT409) - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-pensions-iht409)

- [IHTM17011 - Pensions: examining form IHT409: initial examination - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm17011)