The bill arrives before the money does. Inheritance Tax is due six months after the death, and it usually has to be paid before the grant of probate that would unlock the estate to pay it. HMRC’s own rules solve most of that: the deceased’s bank can pay direct, and tax on a house can be spread over ten years.
The deadline, and the interest
GOV.UK says you must pay Inheritance Tax by the end of the sixth month after the person died, and gives the example of a death in January with payment due by 31 July (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill, checked 1 November 2026). It adds that HMRC will charge interest if you do not pay by the due date.
The rate is set in HMRC’s table: 7.75% a year on late Inheritance Tax from 9 January 2026, with 2.75% paid by HMRC on repayments (GOV.UK, Inheritance Tax thresholds and interest rates, checked 1 November 2026). On a £100,000 bill that is about £21 a day, which is why the routes below matter.
You usually pay before probate
GOV.UK says you usually need to make a payment towards any Inheritance Tax due before you can get a grant of representation, also known as probate, and called confirmation in Scotland (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill, checked 1 November 2026). The grant is what lets an executor sell the house or close the accounts.
That is the circle: the tax must be paid to get probate, and probate is needed to reach the money to pay the tax. The next three sections are the ways out of it that GOV.UK describes.
The reference number, three weeks ahead
Nothing can be paid without a reference. GOV.UK says you need an Inheritance Tax reference number from HMRC at least three weeks before you make a payment, applied for online with sign-in details or an email address (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill, checked 1 November 2026).
That is form IHT422, applied for online, and GOV.UK says to request it before sending in the IHT400 account (GOV.UK, Apply for an Inheritance Tax reference (IHT422), checked 13 September 2026). Apply for it in the first weeks, not the sixth month.
The Direct Payment Scheme
The deceased’s own accounts can pay HMRC without waiting for probate. GOV.UK says you can ask banks, building societies or investment providers to pay some or all of the Inheritance Tax due from the deceased person’s accounts. That includes National Savings and Investments, and you can start before you have probate (GOV.UK, From the deceased's bank, savings or investment account, checked 1 November 2026).
The form is IHT423, and GOV.UK says to send a separate one to each bank, building society or provider for each account you want to pay from. The institution pays HMRC direct against the reference number. Where the estate holds enough cash, this is the whole answer.
Instalments on the house
Where the wealth is the home, the tax on it can be spread. GOV.UK says you can pay the Inheritance Tax on things that may take time to sell in equal annual instalments over ten years, that you must ask on form IHT400, and that you usually pay interest (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill: in yearly instalments, checked 1 November 2026).
Land and buildings qualify as long as they are not sold, GOV.UK says, even if the property is let out. The first instalment is due at the end of the sixth month after the death, then yearly on that date, and you must pay the tax in full once the assets are sold. So a house kept in the family carries its tax over a decade; a house sold to settle the estate clears it on completion.
For assets inherited from 6 April 2026, GOV.UK adds that instalments are interest-free where the asset qualifies for Agricultural Relief or Business Relief. That does not reach an ordinary home.
Paying from your own money
An executor or a family member can pay and be repaid. GOV.UK says you can pay Inheritance Tax from your own bank account, or a joint account you held with the deceased, and claim it back from the deceased’s estate (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill, checked 1 November 2026).
A joint account with the deceased is the simplest case: the surviving spouse’s access continues, and a payment from it is recorded and reclaimed. Keep the transfer confirmation with the estate papers.
Government stock and postponement
Two other routes: the deceased’s government stock, or asking HMRC to postpone when nothing else works. GOV.UK says government stock can be used to pay, by writing to Computershare, which runs the scheme, though it can take up to four weeks and is not for anyone who needs probate quickly (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill: using British government stock, checked 1 November 2026).
And where nothing else works, GOV.UK says that if you are unable to release funds from the estate and cannot pay another way, you can ask to postpone paying Inheritance Tax (GOV.UK, Pay your Inheritance Tax bill, checked 1 November 2026). Interest runs meanwhile. GOV.UK’s guidance does not mention loans; a probate loan from a bank or solicitor is a commercial product outside it.
The £400,000 bill
Take an estate facing a 40% bill of about £400,000 with the wealth tied up in property. On GOV.UK’s rules the estate has until the end of the sixth month. It can elect instalments on the property, so that a tenth of that tax is due then, and pay the rest from any cash through the bank.
If the property is to be sold, the instalment election bridges the gap to completion, when the balance is due in full. If it is to be kept, the instalments run for ten years. Which suits an estate is a question for the solicitor administering it, and none of this is advice.
The other clock: the account itself
The tax deadline is not the only one. GOV.UK says the full details of the estate, the IHT400 account, must be sent within 12 months of the person dying and before applying for probate, with a possible financial penalty for missing it without a reasonable excuse (GOV.UK, If Inheritance Tax is due or full details are needed, checked 1 November 2026).
Our probate forms page covers the account and its schedules, the hub covers whether tax is due at all, and the transferable allowance page covers the claim that can turn a bill into none.