A new HMRC report has revealed that inheritance tax receipts hit a record high of £5.2bn over the last financial year, increasing 8% (£388m) year-on-year during 2017/18.
The report, released ahead of an OTS review of inheritance tax (IHT) rules, found that the net value of estates has increased by £17bn to £79bn since 2009, while the number of estates liable for IHT has continued to climb, with factors such as rising property prices bringing more people into the regime.
The total number of liable estates has increased every year since 2009-10. In 2015-16 there were 24,500 liable estates, an increase of 1,300 since 2014-15.
While last year’s 8% rise is less than the 22% increase seen from 2014-15 to 2015-16, receipts have been steadily climbing since 2010-11.
In 2015-16, 4.2% of UK deaths were liable to IHT, an increase of 0.3% since 2014-15. This has steadily increased since 2008-09 – something the Revenue puts down to the freezing of the nil rate band (NRB) at £325,000 since April 2009.
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