Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of estates paid inheritance tax in 2024.

This question was answered on 11th March 2025
The Government publishes the latest Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics. Table 12.1 of the Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics has the proportions of UK deaths liable and not liable to tax charge. In the latest available tax year, which is currently 2021-22, 4.39% (27,800) of UK deaths (634,000) resulted in an IHT charge.

The data for 2024 is currently not available, since IHT payment does not have to be settled until six months after the end of the month in which the person died. Executors are also given 12 months to file tax returns. Along with other considerations, the latest year of death for which detailed analyses are normally given is two full years before the start of the current tax year.

In OBR’s latest economic and fiscal outlook, OBR has forecasted the proportion of deaths subject to inheritance tax to be 5.8% in 2024-25. The table containing the forecast can be found at https://obr.uk/download/october-2024-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-detailed-forecast-tables-receipts/?tmstv=1741257233.