Gifts and Endowments: Inheritance Tax

(asked on 16th October 2026) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of altering the rules of the Inheritance Tax exemption for gifts so that the exemption limit is applied per gift.


Answered by
James Murray Portrait
James Murray
Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
This question was answered on 21st October 2026

Lifetime gifts to individuals, including money, only use up some of the inheritance tax nil-rate band if the individual giving the gifts dies within seven years. There are also several exemptions and reliefs for gifts made in those seven years.

The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.

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