Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12741 on Business: Inheritance Tax, what the combined value of assets qualifying for relief was in the estates that claimed both agricultural property relief and business property relief.

In 2021-22, the total combined value of agricultural and business property relief (APR, BPR) from those estates that claimed both reliefs was £1.6 billion.

When estates include a claim for both APR and BPR, the estate may not consist entirely of a farming business and its working capital. HMRC estimates that of the population of estates that claimed both APR and BPR in 2021-22, almost a quarter included a BPR claim for shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). It is likely that those particular assets contained within those estates represent, at least in part, investment portfolios set up in order to minimise inheritance tax liabilities, rather than being comprised solely of farming businesses. It is also possible that any claim for BPR is for a business unconnected to any farming activities.

More information is available in the Chancellor's recent letter to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.