Families in the UK have made more than 18,000 reclaims for overpaid inheritance tax (IHT) in the last three years, NFU Mutual has revealed.

A recent freedom of information request by the insurance and investments provider found that 12,915 reclaims were made on the sale of property between April 2022 and 2025.

NFU Mutural revealed that the number of reclaims on property has increased by 65% between the tax year ended April 2023 and the tax year ended April 2025.

The latest freedom of information request also comes as HMRC collected another record amount of IHT receipts in the last tax year, totalling £8.2bn.

IHT is assessed on the value of a person’s estate on the date of death and the tax must be paid within six months.

However, if the property price has dropped when the executors come to sell any property or shares, the family can reclaim the overpaid tax from HMRC. The refund is not automatic and has to be proactively reclaimed, leading to many families being unaware that they are able to reclaim the tax.

Chartered financial planner at NFU Mutual, Sean McCann, said: "A large IHT bill can be a nasty shock for grieving families. These figures show that more and more people are waking up to the possibility that they could reclaim overpaid inheritance tax.

"Considering the buoyant housing market, it’s surprising to see more than 12,915 reclaims have been made on the sale of property in the last three years. In some cases, this will have been a result of property having been overvalued on the IHT return or because of deterioration of the property between the death and subsequent sale.

"Over the last three years there have been 5,096 reclaims where executors have sold shares or other qualifying investments following a fall in value. During times of market volatility it’s important families check whether they can reclaim IHT, in some circumstances it can amount to thousands of pounds."

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