Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts increased by £100m year-on-year in July, totalling £3.2bn between April and July, HMRC has revealed.

In the month, IHT receipts reached £868m, increasing from £844m in July 2025.

The latest data follows the fifth consecutive year of IHT receipts, which totalled £8.5bn in the last financial year.

Receipts are expected to continue rising, with tighter IHT policies announced in 2024’s Autumn Budget expected to push collections to £14.5bn in the 2030/31 financial year.

This would mark a 67% increase in collections over a five-year period, according to data from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Head of estate planning at Evelyn Partners, Ian Dyall, stated: "The growth of inheritance tax receipts has slowed in recent months, probably as a result of moderating property values in London and the South East over the last few years, which will have reduced the value of some estates.

"But no one should let this lull them into complacency over the potential reach of IHT. We have not yet seen the effects of the restrictions to agricultural property and business reliefs that came in this April.

"And the scope of IHT will increase dramatically from next April, when unspent pension assets become part of savers’ estates, not least as bullish equity markets have boosted pension pots in recent years. That will mean more families will become subject to IHT and estates that are already facing an IHT bill could be looking at an even greater one."

Head of UK technical services at Utmost, Simon Martin, added: "The scope of IHT continues to widen, with the threshold freeze extended until 2031, reforms to Business Property Relief taking effect in April this year, and unused pension pots due to come within the scope of IHT from April 2027.

"While these changes may increase tax revenues in the short-term, it raises wider questions about the UK’s attractiveness to entrepreneurs and wealth creators who are more internationally mobile than ever, particularly when other jurisdictions offer significantly more competitive tax regimes."

---