Wedding Gift Money & Inheritance Tax UK 2026/27: The Exemption Amounts Explained
Parents can gift £5,000, grandparents £2,500 and anyone else £1,000 to a couple getting married completely free of Inheritance Tax — on top of the normal annual exemption. Here's exactly how the wedding gift exemption works and how to combine it with other allowances.
A genuinely useful, underused IHT exemption
Among the various Inheritance Tax gifting exemptions, the wedding (or civil partnership) gift exemption is one of the most generous relative to how easy it is to use — a parent helping a child with wedding costs or a house deposit around the time of the marriage can gift a meaningful sum with zero Inheritance Tax risk, no matter how soon afterwards the parent dies, unlike most other lifetime gifts which only become fully tax-free after surviving 7 years.
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Open Inheritance Tax calculatorThe exemption amounts
| Relationship to the couple | Exempt gift amount |
|---|---|
| Parent (to their own child) | £5,000 |
| Grandparent or great-grandparent | £2,500 |
| One party of the couple, to the other | £2,500 |
| Anyone else (relative, friend) | £1,000 |
These limits apply per gift-giver, per wedding, and crucially each qualifying person gets their own full allowance — meaning the total amount a couple could receive completely IHT-free, from a full complement of relatives, adds up quickly.
Worked example: a well-supported wedding
A couple getting married receives wedding gifts from multiple family members in the same tax year:
- Bride's mother: £5,000 (parent exemption)
- Bride's father: £5,000 (parent exemption — separate from the mother's)
- Groom's mother: £5,000
- Groom's father: £5,000
- Bride's grandmother: £2,500 (grandparent exemption)
- Groom's grandfather: £2,500
Total gifted, entirely free of Inheritance Tax: £25,000
None of this counts as a Potentially Exempt Transfer, none requires any of the givers to survive 7 years, and none of it uses up anyone's £3,000 annual exemption — it's a completely separate allowance available specifically because of the wedding.
Stacking with the annual exemption
The wedding gift exemption can be combined with the standard £3,000 annual gift exemption (and, if unused from the previous year, up to £6,000 if the prior year's annual exemption is carried forward — the annual exemption can only be carried forward one year).
Example: a father who hasn't used his annual exemption this year or last could gift his daughter:
- £5,000 (wedding exemption)
- £3,000 (this year's annual exemption)
- £3,000 (last year's unused annual exemption, carried forward)
Total: £11,000, entirely IHT-free, in a single gift around the time of the wedding — a meaningful contribution to a house deposit or wedding costs with no IHT exposure whatsoever, regardless of how soon the father might die afterwards.
What if you want to give more?
Amounts above the relevant wedding exemption threshold don't automatically attract Inheritance Tax — they become a Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET), the standard treatment for most lifetime gifts. A PET becomes fully exempt from IHT if the giver survives 7 years from the date of the gift. If the giver dies within 7 years, the gift may be brought back into their estate for IHT calculation purposes, though taper relief reduces the tax rate charged on gifts made 3-7 years before death (though taper relief only reduces the rate applied to tax already due above the nil-rate band — it doesn't reduce tax on gifts that would be within the nil-rate band anyway).
Example: a parent gifts £25,000 towards their child's wedding and house deposit. £5,000 is exempt under the wedding gift rules; the remaining £20,000 is a PET. If the parent survives 7 years, the full £20,000 falls outside their estate entirely. If they die within 3 years, the £20,000 is added back to their estate and taxed at the full IHT rates if it exceeds their available nil-rate band; dying between 3-7 years applies taper relief on a sliding scale to reduce the tax charged on the excess.
Practical record-keeping
Because the wedding exemption (and any related PET) may not become relevant for IHT purposes until years — potentially decades — later, when the giver eventually dies, it's important to keep a simple written record at the time: the amount given, the date, the relationship to the couple, and confirmation the gift was made in connection with the wedding (rather than an unrelated gift that happened to occur around the same time). This makes life significantly easier for executors completing the estate's Inheritance Tax return years down the line.
uk-inheritance-tax-gifting-rules-guide-2026Frequently asked questions
How much can I gift for a wedding without it counting towards Inheritance Tax?
It depends on your relationship to the couple: a parent can gift up to £5,000, a grandparent or great-grandparent up to £2,500, and any other person (including the couple themselves gifting to each other) up to £1,000 — all completely exempt from Inheritance Tax immediately, with no need to survive 7 years, provided the gift is made on or shortly before the wedding or civil partnership.
Can both parents each give £5,000 to their child getting married?
Yes. Each parent has their own separate £5,000 wedding gift exemption, so a couple could receive up to £5,000 from each set of parents (£10,000 per parental couple, or up to £20,000 if both sets of parents use their full exemption) entirely free of Inheritance Tax, in addition to any other exemptions used that year.
Can I combine the wedding gift exemption with the £3,000 annual gift exemption?
Yes. The wedding gift exemption is separate from and can be used alongside the £3,000 annual gift exemption (which itself can also be doubled up if you didn't use the previous year's annual exemption). A parent could therefore gift £5,000 (wedding exemption) plus £3,000 (annual exemption) = £8,000 in the same tax year, entirely IHT-free, if timed around a child's wedding.
Does the wedding gift need to be cash, or can it be property or other assets?
The exemption can apply to cash or other assets (a car, jewellery, a deposit contribution towards a house) up to the relevant limit, based on the value of what's given. It doesn't have to be a traditional 'wedding present' in the literal sense — a cash gift towards a house deposit made around the time of the wedding can also qualify.
What happens if I gift more than the wedding exemption limit?
Any amount above the relevant wedding exemption limit is treated as a normal gift — specifically a Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET), which only becomes fully free of Inheritance Tax if the giver survives 7 years from the date of the gift. If they die within 7 years, taper relief may reduce (but not eliminate below certain points) the IHT charged on the excess, depending on how many complete years have passed.
Do I need to do anything to claim the wedding gift exemption?
No formal claim is needed at the time of gifting — but it's important to keep clear records (amount, date, relationship to the couple, and confirmation it was made in connection with the wedding) since these details will need to be reported by the executors on the estate's Inheritance Tax return (IHT403 or equivalent) when the giver eventually dies, to correctly identify the gift as exempt rather than a taxable PET.
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