Tax · the 10% test
You qualify for the reduced 36% charitable rate
✓ Threshold met
Leave at least 10% of the taxable part of your estate to charity and HMRC charges the remaining
taxable part at 36% instead of 40%. Your gift is 93% of the taxable estate — comfortably over the line.
Your gift: £56,000 (93%)
10% threshold · £6,000
£0Taxable estate · £60,000
Without the 10% gift
40%
IHT would be £24,000
→
Now
With your charitable gift
36%
IHT is £21,600
Gift to RNLI
£56,000
100% IHT-exempt
IHT before (40%)
£24,000
if no 10% gift
IHT after (36%)
£21,600
charitable rate
Saving for the family
£2,400
lower tax on the rest
ⓘ
This is guidance, not advice. Figures are estimates from your estate plan against the 2025/26 rules. The 10% test is applied to the taxable part of your estate (the value above your allowances), and the exact baseline can change with how your will is drafted — a STEP-qualified adviser should confirm it.
computed against INHERIT · E&W Tax · reviewed: Stable
Register check: we re-checked RNLI on the Charity Commission register this morning — it is active, no merger or name change since you added the gift. Your bequest needs no action.
View the register entry →
RNLI
RNLI
✓ Verified on the Charity Commission register
Royal National Lifeboat Institution · no. 209603 (E&W)
£56,000
Specific cash gift
Pecuniary bequest — fixed cash sum of £56,000
★ 100% IHT-exempt · 10% test met → unlocks the 36% rate, saving the family £2,400
Gift Aid registered · gift left in your will (legacies are not Gift-Aided, but the estate gets full IHT relief)
Add another charitable gift
Search by name or charity number. We verify it on the Charity Commission register before it's saved.
Could giving a little more leave the family better off?
a worked example
Near the 10% line, a small increase in your gift can be partly paid for by the tax saving. Here's an honest comparison
for David — and where it stops being true.
Your gift today — £56,000
Charity receives£56,000
IHT on the rest (36%)£21,600
Family keeps£37,400
If you reduced it below £6,000
Charity receivesunder £6,000
IHT on the rest (40%)~£24,000
Family keeps~£36,000
ⓘ
Where this is true, and where it isn't: giving more to charity always reduces the family's share
pound-for-pound above the 10% line — the saving offsets only part of the gift, never all of it. The genuine "better off"
window is crossing the 10% line: going from just under to just over can leave the family roughly level while the
charity gets the full gift. We won't claim more than that.
computed against INHERIT · E&W Tax · reviewed: Stable
IHT figures are estimates computed from your estate against the open INHERIT standard's England & Wales tax rules
(status: Stable, reviewed by a named reviewer) — they are guidance, not tax advice or a
formal valuation. Charitable gifts in a will are 100% exempt from Inheritance Tax; the reduced 36% rate applies when at least
10% of the taxable part of the estate (the value above your nil-rate and residence allowances) is left to charity. The exact
baseline depends on how the will is drafted. Charities are verified against the Charity Commission register at the time of
adding and re-checked periodically. MyFamilyInherits does not provide legal or tax advice, and never deters charitable
giving — planning is delivered by the regulated firms shown (SRA / CIOT / STEP). You will never be charged automatically.