There is a lot of curiosity and confusion regarding inheritance tax. Simply put, inheritance tax is the tax that an individual (the beneficiary) has to pay when he/she receives some sort of an inheritance on the occasion of someone’s death. When the beneficiary receives an asset of that sort, he/she is liable to pay the inheritance tax.

Inheritance is most commonly received by the beneficiaries as per a will. But an individual can also receive inheritance under intestacy. There are some other ways too where an individual can receive inheritance. For example, if an individual has an asset jointly with someone else and if the other person dies, the individual, being the survivor, will receive the asset as inheritance.

According to lawyers, specialising in Inheritance Tax and Wills, to determine who is liable to pay inheritance tax and who isn’t, some specific laws have been made in order to differentiate civil partners, surviving spouses, as well as the other beneficiaries.