Figures released in The Times have highlighted the growing number of households impacted by inheritance tax. The paper – reporting on data collected by Direct Line, the insurer, through Freedom of Information requests – notes that the inheritance tax threshold has not risen in line with inflation and increasing property prices.
As a result, there has been a substantial increase in the number of families – particularly those living in London – who have fallen into the remit of the tax. This led HMRC to claim a record £5.2bn from inheritance tax in 2017, which represented an increase of more than 60 per cent on the tax claimed in 2012.
These increasing levels of inheritance tax have led accounting and financial experts to urge households to begin planning their estates more carefully.
George Hodgson, chief executive of the society for trust and estate practitioners (Step), commented in the article: “Growing numbers of families need to think about inheritance tax and how this might affect them. Good advice from estate planning experts is essential as there are some simple steps you can take to minimise your tax bill and to make it easier to pay any tax due.”
Read more about the rise in inheritance tax and its impact on estate planning in the article on The Times website: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/house-values-mean-london-tops-league-for-inheritance-tax-7zzfrtlmk
