Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of threshold for the payment of Inheritance Tax on families with assets worth over £1 million.

Inheritance tax is a wealth transfer tax charged on the estate (the property, money, and possessions) of someone who has died. In the latest available tax year (2021-22), 4.39% of all UK deaths were liable to inheritance tax.

The tax liability is on the estate and not the beneficiary of any inherited assets. As such, HMRC does not collect information on the beneficiaries of estates, as it has no reason to do so.

The Government announced several reforms to inheritance tax at Autumn Budget 2024. The Government’s analysis of these reforms is based on the number of estates expected to pay more inheritance tax. More information is available in the various policy papers published alongside the Budget: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024.