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A record amount of inheritance tax (IHT) was paid into the public purse during April, new figures show.
HMRC received £379m in the same month in which the Conservative party said it would raise the IHT threshold to £1m for some taxpayers – a pledge that looks set to be fulfilled in this week’s Budget.
A record amount of inheritance tax (IHT) was paid into the public purse during April, new figures show.
HMRC received £379m in the same month in which the Conservative party said it would raise the IHT threshold to £1m for some taxpayers – a pledge that looks set to be fulfilled in this week’s Budget.
April’s takings were well above the monthly £260m average of the past ten years, and were a significant portion of the £1,036m total in the three months to 31 May, the highest sum since the £1,054m in the quarter that ended with 31 August 2007.
The Tories’ proposal to raise the tax-free amount will apply only to a main residence transferred to children or grandchildren by a married couple or civil partners, while the nil-rate band will remain at £325,000 a person for all other taxpayers, the same level since 2009.
Belinda Watson, a partner at private client law firm Wilsons, said the expected IHT reforms are “far from unalloyed good news and add unnecessary complexity to the system. It would be better and fairer to raise the nil-rate band for all estates.
“There is also concern that the cost of allowing the relief to certain homeowners may put pressure on more targeted, but hugely important, inheritance tax reliefs, such as agricultural property or business property,” she added.
