The Treasury took in a record £6.1bn in estate taxes last year as the government’s decision to freeze the threshold forced more grieving families to pay the estate taxes.
IHT’s tax revenues rose 14 percent year on year, up £1.3 billion, figures from HM Revenue & Customs show. It was the largest annual increase since 2016.
Under current government plans, the IHT threshold will remain frozen until 2026, leaving a growing number of families vulnerable to the stealth tax raid. Under the freeze, families pay taxes up to 40 pc. on the value of an estate above £325,000.
Andy Butcher, of financial planner Raymond James, predicted that by the time the threshold is lifted, the number of estates subject to estate taxes will have doubled as house prices and inflation rise.
“Along with a lack of financial planning, more and more families are at risk of being caught out by a tax that can seem punitive to those who have already been taxed on their income at least once in their lifetime,” he said.
HMRC also attributed the increase in its IHT earnings to the knock-on effects of the pandemic on the volume of asset transfers.
The news comes as Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak face mounting pressure to push for bigger tax cuts.
Julia Rosenbloom, of asset manager Evelyn Partners, said: “While Truss has made specific commitments in the areas of national insurance and corporate tax, the prospects for personal taxes such as IHT are far from certain. Given Truss’ commitments to cut taxes elsewhere , it would be brave of a new prime minister and chancellor to lower IHT and thereby reduce the revenue it brings to the treasury.”
Calls for tax cuts come as HMRC faces a tax gap of billions of pounds – the difference between the total amount of tax to be paid and the actual amount. In 2020/21 it stood at £32 billion.
Alex Davies, of the Wealth Club broker, said there were a number of ways taxpayers could keep their IHT bills to a minimum, such as giving money away as gifts.
“Gifts taken out of regular income that are believed to have no impact on the giver’s standard of living are tax-free on the first day, as are certain smaller gifts,” he said. “You can give away unlimited amounts, but it usually takes seven years to be completely free of inheritance tax.”
A spokesman for HM Treasury said: “The vast majority of estates pay no estate tax – over 93 per cent of estates are not expected to owe any estate tax in the next few years – but the tax raises more than £6bn a year to help fund public services that millions of us rely on every day.”