Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts reached £5.2bn in the first seven months of the 2025/26 tax year, £200m higher than the same period last year, according to new HMRC data.
The figures extend a long-running upward trend and come days ahead of the Autumn Budget, intensifying scrutiny of how frozen thresholds and changing rules are drawing more estates into scope.
Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, said the latest rise reflected “a decade of frozen thresholds and rising house prices”, which has left “more people who may not feel hugely wealthy” exposed to the tax.
She warned that receipts are “only set to accelerate once pensions become liable to IHT from 2027”, arguing the change will “turbocharge future receipts and draw significantly more households into scope”.
Griffin added that rumours of a lifetime gifting cap “take on new weight” in the current environment and could create “significant complexity” in intergenerational planning.
For now, she said, those concerned about future liabilities should consider using the £3,000 annual gifting allowance, which remains “a simple and effective way to reduce the value of an estate on death”.
Ian Dyall, head of estate planning at Evelyn Partners, said today’s figures will be “more keenly watched for the state of the public purse than anything else” ahead of next week’s Budget.
While receipts follow a “predictable upward trend”, he noted that recent IHT reforms have yet to take effect, including the inclusion of unspent pension pots in estates from April 2027 and reductions to agricultural and business property relief from next April.
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Dyall said speculation around the UK’s “complex gifting regime” had persisted in recent months, but regardless of Budget decisions, families should carry out their own planning reviews.
“For those who can afford it, what better time of year to make a present of some money or assets to loved ones or younger relatives, and set the seven-year clock ticking?” he said.
He also highlighted behavioural changes already emerging among larger savers.
The forthcoming inclusion of pension assets in estates has prompted some to start drawing down funds and “either spending it, giving it away or finding alternative tax-efficient homes for it”.
However, Dyall urged caution: “Retirees must make sure they are leaving themselves enough to maintain the life they want into old age, and not incurring other potential tax exposures in the dash from IHT.”
Samantha Warner, legal director at Winckworth Sherwood, said revenues “continue to steadily rise due to the prolonged freeze on IHT thresholds”.
She argued that neither the nil-rate band nor the residence nil-rate band has kept pace with inflation or property values, meaning “more estates are becoming liable for the tax as asset values increase”.
She encouraged individuals to review wills and estate plans “with professional legal advice” to avoid unexpected burdens.
Nicholas Hyett, investment manager at Wealth Club, said the upcoming “hokey-cokey Budget” was likely to follow recent patterns.
With nil-rate thresholds frozen since 2009, he said the government had been able to increase the tax take “without having to ‘raise’ taxes at all”, and predicted further threshold freezes across the tax system.
He warned that attacks on reliefs and potential changes to gifting rules may continue, but argued the government is “close to the bottom of the barrel where IHT is concerned”.
