IHT410 Form: Life Assurance and Annuities — Complete Guide 2026

When you need IHT410

Complete IHT410 (and submit it with the IHT400) if the deceased:

• held any life assurance policy that paid out on their death;
• was paying premiums on a policy for someone else's benefit (this can be a gift);
• had a joint-life or mortgage-protection policy, or an investment bond with life cover;
• bought an annuity that was not a pension annuity — a purchased life annuity, or an annuity bought alongside a life policy.

What does not go on IHT410

Pension annuities. The form is explicit under ‘When not to use this form’: “Do not use this form to tell us about pension annuities. Use form IHT409, ‘Pensions’ instead.” A guaranteed annuity continuing after death from a pension scheme belongs on IHT409, not here.

Mortgage protection policies are split up rather than entered as one item. The form tells you to show the property, the mortgage and the policy separately: if the deceased owned the property in their own name the policy goes at question 2 of IHT410; if they owned it jointly, the policy goes with the property and the mortgage on form IHT404, ‘Jointly owned assets’. (The IHT400 notes add that the mortgage itself goes in box 80 and the money due from the policy in box 57.)

In Scotland, where policies are already listed on inventory form C1, the form says you do not need to list them again — just include their total.

In trust or not? The question that decides the tax

• Written in trust: the payout goes directly to the named beneficiaries, not into the estate, so it is generally outside the estate for inheritance tax. You still note it on IHT410. See life insurance held in trust.
• Not in trust: the payout is made to the estate, forms part of it, and is taxable. See life insurance and the estate.
• Premiums for others: if the deceased paid premiums on a policy benefiting someone else, those premiums may be lifetime gifts and belong on IHT403 as well.

If you are not sure whether a policy is in trust, the insurer can confirm it — ask when you notify them of the death and make the claim.

Common mistakes

• Including a trust policy's payout in the taxable estate (or excluding a non-trust policy that should be in it).
• Forgetting premiums paid on someone else's policy, which may be reportable gifts.
• Putting a pension annuity on IHT410 — guaranteed pension payments continuing after death go on IHT409.
• Using a surrender value instead of the death sum assured for a policy that paid out on death.

Working through the IHT400 schedules?