Latest figures reveal soaring inheritance tax receipts

In 2020-21 HMRC received £5.76bn in inheritance tax according to HMRC statistics. This is a rise of £0.8bn (16%) compared to the previous year. The rise in liabilities created is likely to be due to the rise in the number of overall deaths in the UK in that year which resulted in a knock-on rise in taxable wealth transfers. The number of deaths in the UK rose from 612 000 to 722 000 (18%). This will have been due at least in part to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further in 2020-21 3.73% of UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax charge decreasing by 0.03 percentage points since the 2019-20. HMRC says this figure has been relatively flat since 2017-18 and that it is likely to be the result of the introduction of the residence nil-rate band (RNRB)...