Residence nil-rate band calculator
- Work out your RNRB for 2026/27
- Includes the transferable RNRB from a late spouse
- Applies the £2 million taper automatically
- Caps it at the value of your home
- No sign-up required
Residence nil-rate band calculator
Work out how much RNRB your estate can claim, including any transferred from a late spouse. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
Estimate based on 2026/27 rates (RNRB £175,000 per person, taper threshold £2,000,000). Assumes a qualifying home passes to direct descendants and, where ticked, that 100% of a late spouse's RNRB was unused. It doesn't cover the downsizing addition or trusts. Not financial or legal advice. Source: HMRC.
What the residence nil-rate band is
The residence nil-rate band (RNRB) is an extra slice of Inheritance Tax allowance on top of the standard £325,000 nil-rate band. For 2026/27 it's £175,000. Add the two together and a single person who leaves a home to their children can pass on £500,000 before any IHT is due. A married couple can reach £1 million between them.
It isn't automatic, though, and that's where people trip up. The RNRB only applies when you leave a home, or the money from a home you've sold, to a direct descendant. Leave the house to a sibling, a niece, a friend or most kinds of trust, and the estate loses the whole £175,000. That single condition is why the calculator above asks for the value of the home going to descendants, not just the estate total.
It's capped at the value of your home
The RNRB can't be more than the value of the qualifying home passing to descendants. If your house is worth £120,000, your RNRB is capped at £120,000, not the full £175,000. If it's worth £400,000, you get the full £175,000. The calculator applies this cap, which is a detail most simple "add £175,000" explainers skip.
The transferable RNRB from a late spouse
Like the main nil-rate band, the RNRB transfers between spouses and civil partners. When the first partner dies, any RNRB they didn't use passes to the survivor. In practice, most couples leave everything to each other on the first death (which is exempt from IHT anyway), so none of the first RNRB gets used, and the survivor's estate can claim two full bands: £350,000 in 2026/27.
Two things worth knowing. First, the transfer works as a percentage. If the first death used up half the RNRB, the survivor inherits an extra 50%, applied to the RNRB rate in force when the survivor dies. Second, it works even if the first spouse died before the RNRB was introduced in April 2017. A widow whose husband died in 2010 can still claim a transferred RNRB, because on that first death 100% of a (then non-existent) RNRB was unused, giving 100% to transfer. Executors claim it on form IHT436.
The £2 million taper
Large estates lose the RNRB. Once the total estate is worth more than £2 million, the RNRB drops by £1 for every £2 above that line. The taper is based on the whole estate, not just the house. Work it through and a single person's £175,000 RNRB has gone entirely by £2,350,000. A couple's combined £350,000 disappears at £2.7 million.
| Estate value | Single person RNRB | Couple RNRB (transferred) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £2,000,000 | £175,000 | £350,000 |
| £2,100,000 | £125,000 | £300,000 |
| £2,200,000 | £75,000 | £250,000 |
| £2,350,000 | £0 | £175,000 |
| £2,700,000 | £0 | £0 |
This taper catches people who don't think of themselves as wealthy but own a valuable home in the South East. If your estate is near £2 million, bringing it down through gifts or pension planning can restore RNRB worth up to £70,000 in tax (40% of £175,000). It's one of the few situations where reducing your estate on paper pays for itself several times over.
If you've downsized or sold up
Selling your home doesn't automatically cost you the RNRB. The downsizing rules, which apply to moves or sales after 8 July 2015, let the estate keep RNRB it would otherwise lose, as long as assets of equivalent value pass to direct descendants. It's aimed squarely at people who move into a care home or sell the family house in later life. The calculation is fiddly and the executors have to claim it, so it's worth flagging to whoever handles the estate.
Who counts as a direct descendant
The definition is broader than "children". It covers children, grandchildren and further descendants, and it includes step-children, adopted children, foster children, and children you were appointed guardian or special guardian for. The spouses and civil partners of those descendants count too, even after your child has died, unless they've remarried. What doesn't count: siblings, nieces, nephews, parents and friends. Leave the home to any of those and the RNRB is lost.
To see the full Inheritance Tax picture for your estate, including the standard nil-rate band and the 40% charge, use the main inheritance tax calculator. If you're working out the position for a surviving spouse, the second death calculator handles the doubled allowances.
Residence nil-rate band questions
What is the residence nil-rate band for 2026/27? £175,000 per person, on top of the £325,000 nil-rate band, but only where a home passes to direct descendants. That gives a single person a £500,000 threshold and a couple up to £1 million.
What is the transferable RNRB? Unused RNRB from a late spouse passes to the survivor, so their estate can claim up to £350,000. It's worked out as the percentage unused on the first death, and it applies even if that death was before 2017.
How does the taper work above £2 million? The RNRB falls by £1 for every £2 the estate is over £2 million. A single person's band is gone by £2,350,000; a couple's by £2.7 million.
Can I claim it if I've sold my home? Often yes, through the downsizing rules, if equivalent value goes to direct descendants and the move or sale was after 8 July 2015.