The inheritance tax (IHT) main residence nil rate band (RNRB) was introduced in Finance Act 2015 and applies to deaths after 5 April 2017. While the government’s intention behind the introduction of RNRB was to make it easier to pass on the family home to children (and grandchildren) without IHT, the actual mechanism is widely considered to be a complex solution to what should have been a relatively straightforward problem for the government to address.

The basic nil rate band has been fixed at £325,000 since 6 April 2009 and will remain at this level until 5 April 2021. With the effect of inflation and increases in house prices (especially in London and the south), there had been widespread calls to simply increase the nil rate band.