A brief look at IHT receipts 2015 to 2025
On 23 April 2026 City AM reported that “Inheritance tax receipts soar to an all time high” saying that
“...Inheritance tax receipts soared to a record high over the last financial year as Labour’s targeting of property owners helped fund sweeping spending increases…”
I thought I would take a look at the figures for the past ten years and I was surprised to learn that although 2025 represents the high watermark for total receipts and is almost double the total take for 2015, in terms of year on year growth it is not an outlier.
IHT and Captial Transfer tex receipts 2015 - 2025 (£million)
2015 4,383
2016 4,727 (+344m)
2017* 5,308 (+581m)
2018 5,221 (-87m)
2019 5,121 (-100m)
2020 5,228 (+127m)
2021 5,949 (+721m)
2022 6,774 (+825m)
2023 7,781 (+717m)
2024 8,124 (+633m)
2025 8,482 (358m)
(*6 April 2017 saw the introduction of an additional threshold (the residence nil rate band) of £100,000 which rose by £25,000 a year until 2020 when it was set at £175,000 until 5 April 2030).
2022 saw the biggest year on year increase in the tax take of around £825 million, followed by 2021 at £721 million and 2023 at £717 million. Those three years account for £2.2 billion or almost half of the total increase and occurred under the previous Conservative administration.
The average year on year increase taking into account 2018 and 2019 when receipts fell by £87m and £100m respectively, is £412m. The increase of £358 million in receipts from 2024 to 2025 does not in this context stand out.
I am not statistician or data analyst so I took a look at HMRC's various analyses as to what is behind the steady year on year increases. HMRC’s latest analysis (updated in July 2025) examines the period up to the tax year 2022/2023 and speculated that the increased take was the result of:
“...The rise in IHT tax liabilities compared to previous years is likely due to a combination of higher volumes of wealth transfers following recent IHT-liable deaths, recent rises in asset values, and the Government’s decisions to maintain the IHT tax free thresholds at their 2020 to 2021 levels up to and including 2029 to 2030…”.
The effect of the changes to Agricultural and business property relief (APR and BPR) is likely yet to show up in the statistics. However, what seems likely is that the tax take will increase in future years not least because:
The current IHT tax free threshold will remain in place for at least 4 more years.
As from 2027 unused pension pots and other death benefits will fall into the deceased estate for the purposes of IHT.
HMRC is reportedly clamping down on property valuations reported in tax returns, with an increase in the number of cases reported to the Valuation Office Agency of 23.5%.
However, what to me stands out most in all of this, is a comparison of these receipts of almost £9 billion with the rip roaring £111.2 billion in debt interest that the UK is forecast to pay in 2025-26. All of the efforts at pip squeezing targeted at accumulated wealth and it’s transfer is little more than a squeak in comparison.