Inheritance tax receipts rose to £0.8bn in April, a £97m rise year-on-year (14%), according to today’s data from HMRC.

Transact has seen funds under direction (FUD) rise by 8% to £65.9bn helped by market recovery and strong inflows.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) jumped to 3.5% in April from 2.6% in March as a swathe of price increases on everything from energy prices to council tax and private school fees kicked in.

The number of pensioners paying higher rate tax at 40% or 45% has doubled to a million in the last four years.

Four years ago only half a million pensioners paid higher rate taxes.

Nearly 9m pensioners now pay income tax.

In a little-noticed knock-on effect of fiscal drag, these pensioners will also pay extra tax on their savings income and capital gains, according to former Pension Minister Steve Webb.

He warned: “The higher rate threshold has become a real cliff-edge over which growing numbers of pensioners are falling.”

The LCP partner, a former Pensions Minister, obtained the figures from HMRC through an Freedom Of Information request.

Sir Steve said: “There has been a significant increase in the number of pensioners paying income tax at all rates, but the rise has been greatest in the numbers paying income tax at the higher rates.”

He said: “Not only does this mean more tax on things like income from state and company pensions, it also means these pensioners are paying more tax on their savings, as their personal savings allowance is cut, and a higher rate of capital gains tax – a ‘triple whammy’.”

The key figures revealed by the FOI request are:

• The total number of pensioners paying income tax at all has risen by around 2m in four years, from 6.7m in 2021/22 to 8.8m in 2025/26, an increase of nearly a third;
• However, the total number of pensioners paying at 40% or above has doubled over the period; in 2021/22 the figure was just under half a million (494,000) but this year it has risen above the one million mark (1,028,000);
• The proportion of taxpaying pensioners who pay at 40% or more has climbed from around 1 in 14 in 2021/22 to around 1 in 9 this year;

The main reasons for the increase, according to Sir Steve, are:

• The continued freeze in the income tax personal allowance and higher rate threshold
• Significant above-inflation increases in the rate of the state pension combined with other inflation-linked pension increases

Mr Webb warned: “What is not commonly noted is that being a higher rate taxpayer – even by just £1 – triggers higher rates of tax on other forms of income.”

The latest issue of Financial Planning Today magazine, our exclusive sister publication for Financial Planners, Paraplanners, Wealth Managers and IFAs, has been published and is ready to view.

The SIPP and SSAS trade body Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes (AMPS) said it has made progress in liaison with regulators and demonstrated that by having representatives from HMRC at its annual spring conference.

The fund managers’ trade body, the Investment Association (IA), has warned that brand cloning scams have become the “leading source” of fraud risk with hundreds of investors losing millions of pounds.

The FCA has turned down an application to annul its decision to halt regulated business at Hull-based claims management firm (CMC) Prestige Legal Ltd (FRN 915619).

Wealth manager and Financial Planner Evelyn Partners has launched its Index managed portfolio service (MPS) to the UK financial adviser market for the first time.

Fund groups are turning their backs on US investments because they expect Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs to be partially reintroduced when the current 90 day pause expires on 8 July.