UK inheritance tax after moving to Argentina

A move to Argentina can leave your worldwide estate exposed to UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) long after your last UK address. For deaths from 6 April 2025, someone who was UK tax resident for at least ten of the previous 20 tax years is generally a long-term UK resident for IHT purposes. That status can persist for three to ten tax years after departure. Even when it ends, a UK house or other UK-situated asset can still fall within IHT.

Residence history decides how far the charge reaches

The 2025 rules replaced domicile as the main test for the geographic reach of IHT. An Argentine DNI (identity document), a British passport or a bank's non-resident label cannot settle the question. UK tax residence is counted year by year under the Statutory Residence Test. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and the year you leave can still count as a UK-resident year.

An asset's legal location matters more than the place from which you manage it. A Manchester house let while its owner lives in Buenos Aires is still a UK asset; Argentine real estate and a locally held bank account are non-UK assets. Shares, investment accounts, debts and trusts may need individual analysis. Indirect ownership through a non-UK company can still bring UK residential property within the charge.

How long does worldwide exposure continue after departure?

Once ten UK-resident years fall within the preceding 20, leaving the country does not immediately end worldwide exposure. The tail depends on the number of UK-resident tax years in that history.

These are tax years rather than anniversaries of a flight. Later UK-resident years can alter the result, so departure records and annual UK day counts matter if visits become longer; the residence test provides the underlying calculation. Anyone who left before 6 April 2025 may also be affected by transitional rules.

Allowances, gifts and the cost of keeping a UK home

The standard nil-rate band is £325,000 per person (September 2026), and the usual rate on the taxable estate above available bands and reliefs is 40%. A residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 may also apply when a qualifying home passes to direct descendants; it tapers once an estate exceeds £2 million. A niece does not qualify as a direct descendant. Unused bands may transfer to a surviving spouse or civil partner, while spouse exemptions require particular attention if one partner is a long-term UK resident and the other is not.

Ordinary lifetime gifts to individuals can fall outside IHT after seven years, although an earlier death may bring them back into the calculation. There is a £3,000 annual gift exemption, with limited one-year carry-forward of an unused amount. Giving away a UK house while continuing to live in it or benefit from it can defeat the intended IHT result. Trust transfers have different rules and can attract lifetime charges, so ownership, beneficial use and dates matter as much as the will.

What a house and an Argentine account might mean for the bill

Suppose a single person, UK tax resident for 20 years, leaves for Argentina in 2026/27 and remains non-UK resident. They own a UK house worth £450,000 and an Argentine investment account worth £200,000. Assume no debts, previous gifts, spouse or charitable relief. Their will leaves both assets to a niece, so the residence nil-rate band is unavailable.

A death during the worldwide-assets tail gives an illustrative taxable value of £650,000 − £325,000 = £325,000, producing £130,000 IHT at 40%. With the same values after the tail, the Argentine account is generally outside UK IHT, but the house remains within it: £450,000 − £325,000 = £125,000, or £50,000 IHT. Exchange movements, expenses, valuation disputes and Argentine liabilities are excluded from this illustration. Someone with ten to 13 UK-resident years has a shorter minimum tail than this example's 20-year resident.

Wills and records across two countries

The useful record begins before departure: a 20-tax-year residence history backed by travel records, UK accommodation and work evidence, alongside approximate market values and beneficial ownership of the home, pensions, investments and Argentine assets. A P85 informs HMRC of a departure for income-tax administration; it does not determine IHT status. Knowing each asset's legal location and intended beneficiary helps a UK private-client solicitor and an Argentine succession lawyer coordinate separate wills without one revoking the other. Pension death-benefit nominations need their own review because pension benefits should not automatically be treated as permanently outside IHT. The UK wills and Argentine assets guide covers the succession side.

After a death, the executor values worldwide assets if the person remained a long-term UK resident, or identifies chargeable UK assets if not. Gifts in the preceding seven years, exemptions and available bands affect whether a full HMRC IHT400 return and schedules are needed before a UK grant. IHT is generally due by the end of the sixth month after death, with interest after that date; property may qualify for instalments. Argentine probate papers and currency-conversion evidence for the same valuation date help connect the two estates.

Argentina has no single federal inheritance tax, but Buenos Aires Province levies a tax on gratuitous transfers (*impuesto a la transmisión gratuita de bienes*). CABA, the city of Buenos Aires, is a separate jurisdiction, and succession procedures can apply wherever assets are held. The UK–Argentina double taxation convention concerns income and gains rather than a blanket inheritance-tax exemption. An Argentine estate therefore deserves attention even if UK IHT is payable.

The financial difference in the example rests on one question: whether worldwide exposure still applies at death. For income tax on pensions, see the UK tax and HMRC guide; for the 60-day reporting of a non-resident's UK property sale, see the UK property capital gains guide.