SQE1 tax calculations
SQE1 tests tax within Business Law and Practice, Property Practice and Wills. For assessments from 1 September 2026 the SRA gives the rates and thresholds in the question; you need the method and which reliefs and exemptions apply. The calculator below works each step at 2026/27 rates.
Updated 24 September 2026 · Checked against SRA sources listed below
Rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), from GOV.UK; stamp duty land tax at the rates in force since 1 April 2025. In the exam the SRA gives the rates and thresholds in the question. What you must know is which reliefs and exemptions exist and when they apply.
Examined in Wills and the Administration of Estates (FLK2)
Inheritance tax
£156,000
Estate at death
£900,000
Everything the deceased owned at death, at its value on the day of death.
less Debts and funeral expenses
(£10,000)
Deducted from the estate before anything else.
Net estate
£890,000
Chargeable estate
£890,000
Residence nil rate band: £175,000
Available because a home passes to direct descendants (children, grandchildren and their descendants, including step, adopted and foster children). Not to nephews, nieces or siblings. HMRC
less Residence nil rate band
(£175,000)
The lower of the home passing to direct descendants (£350,000) and the band available (£175,000). It comes off the whole estate, before the nil rate band. HMRC
less Nil rate band
(£325,000)
£325,000 available. HMRC
Taxable estate
£390,000
Inheritance tax at 40%
£156,000
Charged only on the part of the estate above the nil rate band(s). GOV.UK
Calculated by this page from the figures above. Check a real matter against HMRC guidance.
How the calculator works
Choose a tax and enter the figures from the question. The working appears line by line in the order an SQE1 answer needs it: what is deducted, what is exempt, which band applies, and the tax. Each line states the rule behind it and links to the GOV.UK or HMRC page for the figure it uses. Every rate and threshold is the one in force for 2026/27, checked on 24 September 2026.
Practice mode gives a short scenario with the figures supplied, the way the SRA now supplies them. Enter your answer to the pound. If it matches a known slip, such as deducting the full residence nil rate band when the home is worth less, the feedback names the slip before showing the full working. For questions across every subject, try the SQE1 practice questions.
Where the marks go
Tax questions test the order of the steps and the rules about who qualifies as much as the arithmetic.
- Inheritance tax. Debts and funeral expenses come off first, then exemptions and reliefs. The residence nil rate band needs a home passing to direct descendants, so a niece or a sibling does not qualify, and it is limited to the value of the home. Lifetime gifts in the seven years before death use the nil rate band before the estate does.
- Lifetime gifts. Taper relief reduces the tax on a gift made three to seven years before death, not the value of the gift, and does nothing for a gift inside the nil rate band.
- Stamp duty land tax. Each rate applies only to its slice of the price. First-time buyer relief is lost altogether above £500,000, and the 5% higher rates apply from the first pound.
- Capital gains tax. Personal representatives start from the probate value and pay 24%, with the annual exempt amount for the tax year of death and the next two. Losses of the same year are set off in full; losses brought forward only bring the gains down to the annual exempt amount.
What the calculator does not cover
It leaves out land transaction tax in Wales, corporation tax, VAT, savings and dividend income, SDLT on lease rents, private residence relief, and the detail of business and agricultural relief, whose value you enter as the question gives it. It also leaves out lifetime chargeable transfers into trust, grossing up and quick succession relief. The arithmetic is ours, from the published rates; for a real matter, check HMRC's guidance.
Rates and thresholds contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Questions candidates ask
Not for assessments from 1 September 2026. The SRA's specification says that where a question needs the monetary value of an exemption or relief, a rate or a threshold, it will be provided. You still need to know which reliefs and exemptions exist and the conditions for each.
Tax is examined only within Business Law and Practice, Property Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates. That covers income tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax and VAT in business, stamp duty land tax (land transaction tax in Wales) and VAT on property, and inheritance tax and the personal representatives' income tax and capital gains tax in estates.
2026/27. The law examined is the law in force four calendar months before the first assessment, 11 September 2026 for January 2027, which falls in the tax year running from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.
The reduced rate applies when at least 10% of the baseline amount passes to charity. The baseline is the estate after exemptions, reliefs and the nil rate band, with the charity gift added back. The residence nil rate band is not deducted in working out the baseline.
When the estate, after debts but before exemptions and reliefs, is worth more than £2 million. The band falls by £1 for every £2 over that figure, so a single band of £175,000 is gone once the estate reaches £2,350,000.
Sources
- SRA: SQE1 Assessment Specification (assessments from 1 September 2026)Checked 23 September 2026
- GOV.UK: How Inheritance Tax works (overview: 40% rate, 36% charity rate, £325,000 threshold)Checked 24 September 2026
- HMRC: Inheritance Tax thresholds and interest rates (updated 6 April 2026)Checked 24 September 2026
- HMRC: Work out and apply the residence nil rate bandChecked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax, rules on giving gifts (annual exemption, 7 year rule, taper relief)Checked 24 September 2026
- HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual IHTM45009: reduced rate for gifts to charity, the baseline amountChecked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax, residential property ratesChecked 24 September 2026
- HMRC: Higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (rates from 1 April 2025)Checked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax, rates for non-residential and mixed land and propertyChecked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax rates (from 6 April 2026)Checked 24 September 2026
- HMRC: Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances (updated 13 April 2026)Checked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Business Asset Disposal Relief, eligibility and rateChecked 24 September 2026
- GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027)Checked 24 September 2026
SQE1 Ready is independent of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Rules, dates and fees can change: the SRA is the authority, and this page is checked against it.
Tax is one part of three subjects
Tax questions sit inside Wills, Property Practice and Business Law and Practice. The free diagnostic asks 13 questions across FLK1 and FLK2 in about 15 minutes and gives a first read on every subject.
13 questions · about 15 minutes · free, no card details