Inheritance tax has continued its upward trajectory with receipts for the 11 months April 2025 to February 2026 of £7.7bn, £0.1bn higher than the same period last year.
Despite the rise there is some sign of the rapid growth in IHT slowing, at least temporarily, as house prices, often a key part of an estate, slow down or reverse.
However, the addition of IHT to unused pensions from April next year is expected to result in rapid growth in the IHT as more estates are dragged into the net.
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s Spring Forecast (3 March 2026) estimates full year IHT returns will be £9bn (up 4.6% increase on last year, according to analysis from platform Nucleus).
IHT receipts are expected to continue increasing to around £15bn in 2030/31 with a likely boost from the addition of IHT on unused pensions from April next year.
Andrew Tully, technical services director at Nucleus, said: “IHT receipts have grown by more than 50% over the last five years, a trend that is predicted by OBR to continue and accelerate.
“This is due to the freezing of nil rate bands until April 2031, rising UK property values, and planned reductions to agricultural and business reliefs from April 2026. Although the impact of the agricultural and business relief changes has recently been eased with the increase in the 100% relief threshold to £2.5m, rather than the previously announced £1m.”
Other industry experts agreed that IHT receipts are heading upwards at a rapid rate.
Andrew Zanelli, head of technical engagement at Aberdeen Adviser, said: “We’re now just a year away from pensions being drawn into the scope of the tax from April 2027, and in our conversations with advisers this is consistently the top issue on their clients’ minds. Advisers are seeing a surge in new enquiries about IHT planning, as more people recognise they could be affected.”
Ian Dyall, head of estate planning at wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, said: “The monthly HMRC figures confirming that inheritance tax (IHT) receipts continue to climb comes as no surprise to those of us working closely with families on long‑term wealth planning.
“The trend has slowed of late – perhaps due to slower house price growth in recent years - but still puts the Treasury firmly on track for another record financial year of total receipts in 2025/26. The expansion of IHT is not a result of sudden shifts in wealth, but rather years of fiscal drag. Nil rate bands have been frozen for many years while asset values, particularly property, have continued to inflate. Rising asset prices benefit the holders of investments and properties but the danger is that these households are sitting on an unexpectedly large, and rising, tax bill for their beneficiaries at death.
“From a planning perspective, more estates that would once have been considered comfortably below the IHT threshold are now creeping into taxable territory. Families often discover this only when dealing with bereavement and the administration of Wills, by which point opportunities for mitigation have significantly narrowed.”
David Cooper, director at retirement specialist Just Group, said: “The OBR estimates that around one in ten estates will be liable for the tax by 2030-2031.”
Nick Henshaw, inheritance tax expert at Wesleyan Financial Services, said: “With just over 12 months to go until the proposed IHT treatment of unused pensions is due to change, these figures are a timely reminder of how valuable the IHT strategies that advisers are developing will be.
“We’re already seeing what some have called a ‘dash to drawdown’, with some advisers exploring whether a faster, more structured drawdown approach could help manage clients’ overall tax position.”
Other tax receipts are also rising for the Government, including CGT.
Jason Hollands, managing director at Evelyn Partners, said: “The CGT take continues to grow compared to last year, with the two-month total of £19.7 billion, some 73 per cent higher than the same period of 2025.
“As the annual exemption had been slashed by the previous Government to a meagre £3,000 by April 2024 there was – and remains – little protection against CGT for investors selling assets, which will have turbo-charged the revenues from any pre-Budget disposals.”