IHT receipts hit £3.9bn
The higher receipts in June 2022, November 2022 and June 2023 can be attributed to a small number of higher-value payments than usual
Inheritance tax receipts for April to September 2023 reached £3.9bn, according to new data published by HMRC – £0.4bn more than the same period last year.
Lower receipts in April and May 2020 were due to a temporary issue where HMRC were unable to accept cheques for payment of IHT due to Covid-19, which was resolved, explaining the peak in June 2020 receipts.
Meanwhile, higher receipts from March 2022 have been attributed to a combination of higher volumes of wealth transfers following recent IHT-liable deaths, recent rises in asset values, and the government’s March 2021 and Autumn 2022 decisions to maintain the IHT tax free thresholds at 2020 to 2021 levels up to and including 2027 to 2028.
The higher receipts in June 2022, November 2022 and June 2023 can be attributed to a small number of higher-value payments than usual.
In addition, receipts in June 2023 were the highest monthly total on record and could also be due to possible effects from the recent rise in interest rates.
Laura Hayward, tax partner at Evelyn Partners, said: “The Treasury will be buoyed by the news that IHT receipts have shown yet another year-on-year increase. IHT receipts really are the gift that keeps on giving at a time when the Treasury needs to do all it can to bolster its coffers.
“The prospect of abolishing IHT has been bounced around as an idea for a Conservative election manifesto pledge and while the Chancellor has been playing down the prospect of imminent tax cuts, it’s not impossible that he could pull a small IHT rabbit out of the hat at the autumn statement, with something like a raising of the nil-rate band.”
She added: “An immediate concern for many families is that more and more are being dragged into paying IHT by stealth as a result of a number of factors, including allowances being frozen until at least 2028 and inflationary growth of asset values.”
