Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts collected by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached £6.3bn between April and December 2024, an increase of £600m on the same period in 2023.

The latest data from the Government’s tax authority revealed that this 11% year-on-year increase puts the current financial year on course to be the fourth consecutive year of record IHT collections for the Treasury.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has predicted that IHT receipts will continue to rise and has forecast that the total tax take will reach £9.7bn a year by 2028/29, having hit a record £7.5bn in 2023/24.

HMRC said that higher receipts since March 2022 are from a combination of volumes of wealth transfers following IHT-liable deaths, recent rises in asset values and the previous Government’s decision to maintain the IHT tax free thresholds until 2027/28.

The latest figures come after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, froze the IHT threshold in her Budget by a further two years to 2030.

This applies to the nil-rate band at £325,000 and residence nil-rate band at £175,000, which had previously been frozen by the Conservatives until 2028.

Group communications director at Just Group, Stephen Lowe, said: "The latest IHT receipts data for December will be a welcome end of year bonus for the Government’s coffers as the tax continues to deliver record sums.

"The latest changes to IHT announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget are likely to see the Treasury collect billions more in IHT before the end of decade. According to OBR estimates approximately one in 10 deaths is forecast to incur IHT by 2029-30, almost double the proportion in 2023/24, as the tax begins to bite a wider swathe of middle Britain."

Specialist financial adviser at Wesleyan Financial Solutions, Jonathan Halberda, added: "Given that the IHT threshold has been frozen at £325,000 until 2030, it’s almost inevitable that IHT receipts will continue to rise every month. And we can expect a jump in the number of estates that will be caught in the IHT net in April 2027, when an IHT exemption for money left in pensions on death is closed. This is something that will also pull more people who might not have thought of themselves as well-off enough to be hit by IHT into the tax net.

"More detail on exactly how this will be implemented should come out this year following the Government’s consultation on the issue closing today. In the meantime, it is already focusing people’s minds on the potential tax bills that they could face – we’ve seen an increase in our customers considering gifting to help manage their tax liability."

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