IHT take rising

IHT take soars and could pass £6bnRecord numbers of people are set to face inheritance tax bills, with a third more families liable for the levy as allowances are frozen and the pandemic drives up the death toll. HMRC pulled in £1.5bn in IHT over April, May and June - £400m more than in the same period last year. If the quarterly rise continues, IHT receipts are set to exceed £6bn this year, with this marking the highest total on record. While around 24,700 families pay IHT in a typical year, rising house prices and the impact of the pandemic is expected to see a record 33,000 estates liable for the charge this financial year. Becky O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at investment platform Interactive Investor, comments: “IHT bills are rising and the trend isn’t going to stop. This levy was introduced as a tax on the very wealthy but it increasingly feels like a raid on the life savings of hard-working families.” Joe Ventre, a campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The low threshold means the levy hits the savings of hard-working households”, adding: “Ministers should offer grieving families a break by scrapping the death tax.” MP Julian Knight has also hit out at inheritance tax, saying: “We have got to move to a much fairer, honest taxation system that doesn’t involve taxing the estates of the dead.”