Estate & inheritance tax

Estate & inheritance tax modelling is off by default. Switch it on from Planning → Assumptions and Ember projects your estate forward to your life expectancy, then estimates the estate-tax liability that applies in your projected country of death and what's left for your heirs.

At your projected age of death, Ember assembles a worldwide estate from your projected investable pot, property, and other assets, less outstanding debts. Some of this may be "in scope" for a given country's estate tax and some may not — for example, a long-term UK resident's worldwide estate is in scope for UK inheritance tax, while a non-resident's exposure is usually limited to UK-situated assets only. The reverse case is just as real: Portugal abolished inheritance tax in 2004, so a Portuguese resident's foreign assets fall out of scope entirely and only Portuguese-situated assets attract a flat 10% stamp duty — with transfers to a spouse, children or parents exempt. Where that distinction applies to your plan, it's shown separately from the worldwide total.

If you're married or in a civil partnership, Ember also reflects the usual second-death modelling conventions (such as doubled nil-rate-style allowances), where the destination country's rules support that.

The estate page shows a waterfall chart running from your worldwide estate, down through the estimated estate-tax charge, to what's left for your heirs. Where Ember can't confidently model estate tax for your projected country of death — because the jurisdiction isn't modelled, or the death country itself is unknown (no residency timeline set) — it says so plainly rather than guessing, and the waterfall shows the full worldwide estate passing through untaxed as a placeholder.

The other side of estate planning is money coming to you. On Planning → Events, add an expected inheritance as its own event — an amount, an age, and (optionally) a relationship to the person leaving it to you. Ember models the recipient-side tax that may apply when the money arrives, on top of adding it to your projected pot at that age. If estate modelling is off, an inheritance event you've added still counts toward your FIRE date — you just won't see the death-side waterfall for your own estate.

Ember treats pensions differently depending on their kind. A defined-contribution (DC) pension is really just an investment account with a name on it — it has a current value, it grows like the rest of your portfolio, and Ember folds it straight into your investable pot for both the FIRE-date projection and the estate assembly. A defined-benefit (DB) pension or a state pension is different: it pays a fixed income stream rather than holding a lump-sum value, so it's modelled as income arriving each year instead of pot value — and it typically falls outside the estate in the way a DC pot's remaining balance can be inherited.