Inheritance Tax - more families to be hit in 2023/4

It looks like more families are to be hit with inheritance tax in 2023/4 according to a new forecast. 

Research from the investment platform Wealth Club suggests the average inheritance tax bill could reach £233,000 in 2023/24, with over 30,000 families having to hand over part of their inheritance to the tax man. 

That would represent a 9.0 per cent rise in the average IHT bill  and a 12 per cent rise in the number of estates paying the tax. 

The research also suggests that both the average IHT bill and the number of families paying IHT are expected to hit a high in 2022/23 before falling back slightly. 

Average IHT bills could hit £275,000 by the end of the decade, while the number of families paying IHT could reach 34,500. 

The research follows the publication of HMRC’s most recent inheritance tax statistics in July, and assumes IHT thresholds remain frozen at their current level. 

Nicholas Hyett, Investment Manager at Wealth Club, comments: “Our research suggests the combination of rising house prices and inflation will push up both the number of families paying inheritance tax and the amount they pay. 

“Without changes to the way inheritance taxes are calculated, the number of people paying IHT could rise by 50 per cent in a decade. With the UK’s most hated tax hitting a growing number of families you can see why there are calls to abolish the tax, and why the government are said to be giving it serious consideration.

“Those families probably won’t be any better off in practice, and at the lower end might actually be worse off after the cost of living crisis. But the government’s policy of freezing IHT allowances means they will be dragged into the taxman’s sights nonetheless.  

“With IHT potentially raising over £9 billion by 2029, according to our research, the government will probably decide scrapping the tax altogether is too costly. But, if that’s the case we would urge them to at least look at raising IHT thresholds in line with inflation. Whether you prefer to call it ‘fiscal drag’ or a ‘stealth tax’ the current situation is clearly unfair. If the government wants or needs to ask taxpayers for more it should be willing to make the argument out in the public.” 

There’s growing speculation that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will set out plans to abolish IHT in the coming days, ahead of the Conservative party conference in mid-October.