Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to conduct a consultation on their proposed reforms to business property relief for inheritance tax to ensure that they are fully informed by the views and needs of all stakeholders.

The Government’s reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 achieve the right balance between supporting businesses, including farms, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.

A technical consultation will be published shortly. As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the focus of the consultation will be on the detailed application of the £1m allowance to lifetime transfers into trusts and charges on trust property. This will inform the legislation to be included in a future Finance Bill and the Government welcomes engagement on this technical issue. There are no plans to expand the scope of the consultation.