Accredited official statistics

Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics: commentary

Updated 31 July 2025

1. Key points

The key points from this year’s publication are:

• in the tax year 2022 to 2023, 4.62% of UK deaths resulted in an Inheritance Tax (IHT) charge, increasing by 0.23 percentage points since the tax year 2021 to 2022. This means that IHT is payable on fewer than 1 in 20 estates, as it has been since 2007 to 2008, and broadly since statistics were first produced. This proportion is now equal to its previous 2016 to 2017 high

• the total number of UK deaths that resulted in an IHT charge has also increased. In the tax year 2022 to 2023, there were 31,500 taxpaying IHT estates, an increase of 3,700 (13%) since the previous tax year, 2021 to 2022. Fewer than half of all deaths in any given year require interaction with HMRC to establish whether there is a liability to be paid

• IHT tax liabilities created in respect of the tax year 2022 to 2023 were £6.70 billion. This was a rise of £0.71bn (12%) compared to the previous year. The rise in IHT tax liabilities compared to previous years is likely due to a combination of higher volumes of wealth transfers following recent IHT-liable deaths, recent rises in asset values, and the Government’s decisions to maintain the IHT tax free thresholds at their 2020 to 2021 levels up to and including 2029 to 2030

• the average effective tax rate paid by taxpaying estates was 13% (compared to the headline marginal rate of 40%), reflecting the impact of exemptions, reliefs, and tax-free allowances. The largest exemption set against assets continues to be for transfers between spouses and civil partners. In the 2022 to 2023 tax year, £5.98 billion was reported to HMRC as being transferred to surviving spouses and civil partners on death. While this is a fall of £9.52 billion (61%) on 2021 to 2022, this can be explained by the change in reporting requirements for excepted estates for deaths occurring from 1 January 2022. This means many non-taxpaying estates no longer needed to report their use of this exemption to HMRC through tax forms

• the combined value of agricultural and business property relief (APR, BPR) set against assets was £5.28 billion in the tax year 2022 to 2023. This was a rise of £0.86 billion (19%) compared to the tax year 2021 to 2022. The value of BPR claimed rose by £0.49 billion (17%), whilst the value of APR claimed rose by £0.37 billion (24%)

• the value of exempted transfers to qualifying charities fell to £1.92 billion in the tax year 2022 to 2023, from £2.07 billion in the tax year 2021 to 2022. Again, this is likely to at least partially reflect the change in reporting requirements for excepted estates between years

2. About this release

This publication contains statistics on Inheritance Tax (IHT) and estates passing on death as reported to HMRC through tax forms. Statistics relating to the composition of estates, to the use of reliefs and to the tax due on estates are provided for estates passing on death in the 2022 to 2023 tax year. Information is also provided on trusts paying IHT trust charges.

Several policy changes to the IHT system were announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget. These included the introduction of restrictions to agricultural and business property reliefs from April 2026, and the extension of IHT to unspent pension pots at death from April 2027. The impact of these policy changes are not reflected in this publication, since they relate to future tax years.

Further information on IHT rules, tax rates, reliefs and exemptions are available in the Inheritance Tax guidance.

Following a reporting requirement change from 1 January 2022, non-taxpaying estates which are classed as ‘excepted’ are no longer required to report their valuations to HMRC through tax forms. An estate is usually an excepted estate (meaning it does not need to report its value and contents to HMRC) if any of the following apply:

• its value is below the current IHT threshold

• the estate is worth £650,000 or less and any unused threshold is being transferred from a spouse or civil partner who died first

• the person who died left everything to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a qualifying charity, and the estate is worth less than £3 million

• the person who died was living permanently outside the UK when they died, and the value of their UK assets is £150,000 or less

As a consequence, their details are no longer included in these statistics from that date, which now have slightly reduced coverage. This means comparisons across years should be treated with caution. For more information, please see the policy paper announcing the changes.

IHT receipts received by HMRC during a particular financial year are no longer reported in this publication. Please see HMRC’s monthly and annual bulletins on tax receipts for the latest commentary on the trend in IHT receipts received by HMRC.

There is a difference between IHT liabilities created in respect of a particular tax year and receipts received by HMRC within a given tax year. This is because there is a delay between death (when the tax charge is created) and when a tax payment becomes due at least six months later. Executors’ decisions regarding when to pay any outstanding tax can therefore influence the receipts received by HMRC in a given year. IHT can also be paid in instalments.

These monthly and annual publications report the cash receipts received by HMRC in a given month or year. In some limited circumstances, IHT can be paid by transferring assets under the ‘acceptance in lieu’ scheme. Receipts under this scheme are reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their National Accounts.

3. Coronavirus (COVID-19)

This publication refers to tax years that include the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the statistics provided for the 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 tax years include wealth transfers that resulted from deaths caused at least in part by COVID-19.

4. IHT liabilities and taxpaying estates

Figure 1: IHT liabilities, tax year 2001 to 2002 to tax year 2022 to 2023

A chart showing IHT liabilities created by taxpaying estates in the stated tax year.

4.1 Liabilities

Figure 1 shows that there was a 12% (£710 million) increase in IHT tax liabilities created between the 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 tax years, with liabilities standing at £6.70 billion.

Tax liabilities have surpassed the previous peak of £5.99 billion in the 2021 to 2022 tax year. This is likely due to a combination of higher volumes of wealth transfers following recent IHT-liable deaths, continued rises in asset values, and the Government’s decisions to maintain the IHT tax free thresholds at their 2020 to 2021 levels until April 2030. More information on these decisions is available in the policy papers accompanying the Budget 2021 Finance Bill, the Autumn Finance Bill 2022, and the Autumn Budget 2024 documents.

4.2 Number and proportion of deaths resulting in an IHT charge

Figure 2: Number and proportion of deaths resulting in an IHT charge

A chart showing the number of taxpaying estates and proportion of taxpaying estates as a share of all UK deaths in the stated tax year.

Figure 2 shows that in the tax year 2022 to 2023, 4.62% (31,500) of UK deaths (683,000) resulted in an IHT charge, increasing by 0.23 percentage points since the previous tax year, 2021 to 2022. This proportion is now equal to its previous 2016 to 2017 high, though is still below the all-time peak of 5.96% seen in 2006 to 2007.

Between the 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021 tax years, the proportion was relatively flat - likely as a result of the introduction of a new tax-free allowance known as the residence nil-rate band (RNRB) from the 2017 to 2018 tax year onwards. The RNRB is available to those estates that transfer their a residence to direct descendants on their death. It was phased in over time, increasing in £25,000 increments until it reached £175,000 in the 2020 to 2021 tax year. It has since been maintained at that level up to and including the 2029 to 2030 tax year.

It is likely that the rise in the generosity of the RNRB between the 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021 tax years broadly offset the impact of rising asset prices, leaving the proportion of estates subject to an IHT charge broadly flat in those years.

The number of estates resulting in an IHT charge is still below the all-time high of 34,100 seen in the tax year 2006 to 2007.  

4.3 Liable estates and average tax paid 

Table 12.1 breaks down the average tax bill by net estate size. It shows that the average tax bill for taxpaying estates rises as the size of the net estate rises.  Those 2,420 taxpaying estates valued at between £300,000 and £400,000 paid £13,500 in IHT on average, whereas those 202 taxpaying estates valued at more than £10 million paid £3.63 million on average.

The average amount of IHT paid across all taxpaying estates has decreased slightly by 1.4% (£3,000) between the tax years 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023, and now stands at £212,000. Since the tax year 2017 to 2018 up until the tax year 2021 to 2022, the average tax bill had increased markedly, explained by the effects of the RNRB’s introduction.

This tax-free threshold was first introduced in the 2017 to 2018 tax year, where it was worth £100,000 to qualifying estates, and has been phased in in stages since then. Since its introduction, the availability of the RNRB to qualifying estates has meant a number of estates which beforehand would have paid a relatively small amount of tax no longer did so. This meant that those estates which remained taxpaying transferred larger amounts of wealth on average – increasing the average tax paid by those remaining taxpaying estates.

4.4 Average effective tax rates (AETRs) for taxpaying estates

Information on AETRs in this publication

For more information about AETRs and how they have been calculated, please see the tax rates section of the background quality report accompanying these statistics.

The tax year 2022 to 2023

Despite the headline marginal rate of IHT being 40%, the AETR for the 2022 to 2023 tax year was lower, at 13%, for all 31,500 taxpaying estates; around one-third of the headline rate. This is due to the combination of tax-free allowances, exemptions, and reliefs used by taxpaying estates to minimize the chargeable portion of their estate.

However, the AETR varied according to the size of the estate being taxed, as Figure 3 shows.

Figure 3: Average effective tax rate (AETR) for taxpaying estates, tax years 2017 to 2018 up to and including 2022 to 2023

A chart showing the average effective tax rate paid by taxpaying estates in a given net estate band in the stated tax year.

The AETR was lower for smaller taxpaying estates. While there were 2,420 taxpaying estates with a net estate value between £300,000 and £400,000, the AETR paid by this group in the tax year 2022 to 2023 was 4%, with an average tax bill per estate of £13,500.

The AETR rose gradually as the value of the net estate rose, reaching 12% for estates valued at between £1 million and £1.5 million. There were 7,890 such estates in this band, with an average tax bill of £153,000.

The main reason the AETR rises gradually is that many estates valued between £300,000 and £1 million benefit from various combinations of tax-free allowances. While all estates benefit from the NRB, worth £325,000, some estates may benefit from further tax-free allowances depending on the marital status of the deceased, and whether the deceased qualifies for the RNRB. This means that some estates can transfer up to £1 million before tax becomes due on any estate value in excess of this amount. For more information, please see the section on IHT thresholds and nil-rate bands in the background quality report.

For estates valued at more than £1.5 million but less than £2 million, the AETR was at 19%, and the 2,780 estates in this band paid an average of £322,000. This was likely due to these estates exhausting their available tax-free allowances, with a greater share of their estates being subject to tax than estates that are smaller.

As soon as an estate becomes at least £2 million in size, the RNRB starts to be tapered away, at a rate of £1 for every £2 that the estate exceeds the £2 million taper point. This happens even if a home is left to direct descendants. For many estates, as soon as an estate is worth £2.7 million or more, no RNRB can be used. This is one reason why the AETR for taxpaying estates valued at between £2 million and £7.5 million was larger, at an average of 24% in the 2022 to 2023 tax year. There were only 3,298 such estates.

The AETR for the largest taxpaying estates in 2022 to 2023 was lower than for those estates valued at between £2 million and £7.5 million – at 20% and 17% respectively for estates valued at between £7.5 million and £10 million, and above £10 million. This is because such estates often make proportionately greater use of available exemptions and reliefs, such as business property relief, than those estates that are smaller. There were only 322 estates that fell into these two bands. While facing a proportionately lower AETR, the taxpaying estates in those bands paid the highest average tax bills by value of all taxpaying estates - at £1.67 million and £3.63 million respectively.

Comparison with earlier tax years

Figure 3 also includes the AETRs for the tax years 2017 to 2018 up to 2022 to 2023.

Figure 3 shows that:

• while there is some variation in the level of AETRs depending on the tax year, all tax years in this period display a similar trend. Within a given tax year, the AETR tends to be low at around 4% for net estates valued at between £300,000 and £400,000, before rising gradually.

• the point at which the AETR starts to increase more quickly is in higher net estate bands – when a net estate is valued at between £900,000 and £1 million. This difference across years is likely due to the effects of the RNRB’s introduction, since the RNRB allowed lower value estates to reduce the chargeable portions of their estates, and was also phased in over time – meaning the maximum combination of tax-free allowances varied across years.

• for all tax years in the period, the AETR then tends to increase to around 25% for estates valued at between £2 million and £7.5 million. The AETR tends to fall slightly for the largest estates worth more than £7.5 million – likely due to those estates’ proportionately greater use of reliefs and exemptions.

• annual variation is likely to occur depending on the composition of estates transferring wealth each year, and particularly depending on the marital status of the deceased. This will impact the size of the IHT tax-free allowance that each estate could benefit from.

• in particular, the RNRB was phased in over time from the tax year 2017 to 2018 onwards, meaning that in each subsequent tax year, some estates would benefit from a different maximum combination of tax-free allowances, if they were eligible. This was between £850,000 and £1 million, depending on the tax year, and so will impact the AETRs in those tax years for particular net estate bands. Please see the background quality report accompanying these statistics for more information.

5. Use of exemptions and reliefs

Table 12.2 shows the use of exemptions and reliefs by estates required to send HMRC either a full IHT400 account, or for years up to and partially including 2021 to 2022, a reduced excepted estate return, such as an IHT205. Figures are supplied where the net capital value of the estate lies above the NRB (including TNRB where this applies). The value of the relief or exemption is equal to the total amount claimed against assets (meaning the amount by which the total value of the chargeable estate for IHT purposes was reduced) as opposed to the impact of that relief or exemption on an estate’s tax charge. Details of exemptions and reliefs are in the IHT account (IHT400) notes. 

Many individuals structure their estates during their lifetimes in order to potentially benefit from reliefs and exemptions when they pass away and transfer wealth in future. The use of these reliefs and exemptions is not crystallised (i.e. does not occur) until the death occurs. For all reliefs and exemptions, differences across years are likely due to:

• differences in HMRC reporting requirements across tax years – for deaths occurring on or after 1 January 2022, excepted estates were no longer required to send inventories of their estates to HMRC

• differences in the number and cohort of deaths requiring probate (known as confirmation in Scotland) across tax years

• differences in the wealth distribution and asset structures of those estates across tax years

• differences in the claims made for reliefs and exemptions by those estates across tax years     

It is therefore not unusual for the value of reliefs and exemptions used when transferring wealth, as shown in these statistics, to differ markedly across years.            

5.1 Spouse and civil partner exemption               

The largest exemption set against assets continues to be for transfers between spouses and civil partners, valued at £5.98 billion in the 2022 to 2023 tax year and used by 5,070 estates.

While this is a fall of £9.52 billion (61%) on 2021 to 2022, this can be explained by the change in reporting requirements for certain non-taxpaying estates. From 1 January 2022, non-taxpaying estates which are classed as ‘excepted’ are no longer required to report their valuations to HMRC through tax forms or notify HMRC that they have obtained a grant of representation. As such, their details are no longer included in these statistics from 1 January 2022 onwards, which now have reduced coverage. This means comparisons across years should be treated with caution. For more information, please the policy paper announcing the changes.

This exemption was reported to HMRC and used by 5,070 estates above the nil-rate band (NRB) in the tax year 2022 to 2023, a fall of 16,730 on 2021 to 2022.

5.2 Agricultural and business property relief (APR and BPR)

The second largest relief set against assets was BPR, valued at £3.34 billion and used by 3,840 estates. This was a rise of £0.49 billion since the 2021 to 2022 tax year. The median value of BPR claimed was £207,000 per estate.

Combined, APR and BPR claimed against assets was £5.28 billion in the tax year 2022 to 2023, a rise of £0.86 billion on the tax year 2021 to 2022. Most of this rise was concentrated in the value of BPR. The value of APR rose by £370 million to reach £1.9 billion, and in the 2022 to 2023 tax year was claimed by 1,730 estates. The median value of APR claimed was £505,000 per estate.

Following the outcome of a consultation on changes to HMRC statistics publications, we have added two new tables to the publication. These tables provide the distribution of estates making claims for APR and BPR for the 2022 to 2023 tax year respectively. The data is tabulated by the combined value of an estate’s claim for each relief (meaning the amount by which the value of the chargeable estate for IHT purposes was reduced). While estates can make multiple claims for relief, these are aggregated so that an estate is only counted once in each table.

These data do not refer to the tax cost to the Exchequer of the reliefs. Statistics on the tax cost to the Exchequer of these reliefs will be included in a future tax relief statistics publication.

Of the 1,730 estates making claims for APR, 564 estates (33%) made claims worth less than £250,000 per estate. The median value of each estate’s combined claim in this category was £85,000, and £59 million of relief was provided to estates making claims of this size. This represented 3% of the total value of the relief.

81 estates (5%) made claims worth more than £5 million per estate. The median value of each estate’s combined claim in this category was £6.46 million, and £612 million of relief was provided to estates making claims of this size. This represented 32% of the total value of the relief.

Of the 3,840 estates making claims for BPR, 2,130 estates (56%) made claims worth less than £250,000 per estate. The median value of each estate’s combined claim in this category was £72,000, and £192 million of relief was provided to estates making claims of this size. This represented 6% of the total value of the relief.

92 estates (2%) made claims worth more than £5 million per estate. The median value of each estate’s combined claim in this category was £10.3 million, and £1,510 million of relief was provided to estates making claims of this size. This represented 45% of the total value of the relief.

5.3 Exemption of transfers to qualifying charities and registered clubs

The next largest exemption set against assets was for transfers to qualifying charities or registered clubs. Such transfers were valued at £1.92 billion in the tax year 2022 to 2023 and were used by 10,800 estates.

This was a fall of £0.15 billion on the equivalent figure for the tax year 2021 to 2022, although this fall is also likely to have been caused in part by the change in reporting requirements across years.

5.4 Residence nil-rate band

The tax year 2022 to 2023 was the sixth year in which the new RNRB tax-free threshold could be used. This threshold provides an additional allowance to qualifying estates so that more wealth can be transferred to direct descendants before IHT could be due. Qualifying estates are estates which are transferring a residence to their direct descendants. For more information on the eligibility criteria, please see HMRC’s RNRB guidance pages.

The threshold was set at £175,000 for the tax year 2022 to 2023, unchanged since 2020 to 2021 following the government’s decision in March 2021 to cancel the planned indexation. The RNRB had been phased in over time until it reached £175,000 in the tax year 2020 to 2021. Any unused amount can be transferred to a spouse or civil partner in the same way as the TNRB. This means that some couples had an effective RNRB threshold of £350,000 in 2022 to 2023.

In the tax year 2022 to 2023, 30,600 estates used the RNRB threshold, and £7.72 billion of chargeable estate value was sheltered from an IHT charge as a result. This was a rise of £1.21 billion compared to the tax year 2021 to 2022.   

6. Composition of estates

Figure 4: Assets by range of net estate value, tax year 2022 to 2023

A chart showing the composition of net estates notified to HMRC across the wealth distribution by band for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.

Figure 4 shows how the composition of assets changes between the various net estate bands, using information from Table 12.3a on the number of estates which were required to send IHT accounts to HMRC and the composition of those estates by net estate value.

Where net estate value is less than £1 million, estates are likely to consist mainly of residential property and cash. Above this limit, estates are increasingly likely to consist of securities and other assets.

7. Characteristics of liable estates

7.1 Age

Table 12.5 shows the composition of taxpaying estates in the tax year 2022 to 2023 by asset type, gender, age, and marital status.

Table 12.5 shows that taxpaying estates owned by those aged between 75 and 84 and 85 and over respectively account for the vast majority of the tax liability. Those estates account for £1.78 billion (27%) and £3.70 billion (55%) of the total tax liability (£6.70 billion) for the tax year 2022 to 2023 respectively. Those aged under 75 or with unknown age account for £1.22 billion (18%).

Around two-fifths of the value of taxpaying estates held by those aged under 65 at death is made up by their main UK residence. As the age of the deceased increases, so does their tendency to hold assets in cash and securities, as more of their accumulated wealth is no longer tied up in property. Those aged 45 to 64 hold around 20% of their wealth in securities, but this proportion increases to 30% for those aged 85 and over.

7.2 Gender

In the tax year 2022 to 2023, taxpaying male-owned estates had an overall tax liability of £3.23 billion, whereas taxpaying female-owned estates had a higher overall tax liability of £3.47 billion.

In general, female-owned estates tend to have slightly higher tax charges than those owned by males. This is likely due to the fact that females tend to have a higher life expectancy at birth than males. For instance, for the period 2021 to 2023 life expectancy at birth in the UK was 4 years longer for females, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) Life tables. Females therefore have a higher probability of living longer than their spouse or civil partner (if applicable), and of leaving an estate on which the spouse and civil partner exemption cannot be claimed. Most marriages and civil partnerships in the UK tend to be between opposite-sex couples, as outlined by the ONS in their marriages in England and Wales release and their civil partnerships formations release, by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) in their marriages and civil partnerships release, and by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in their births, deaths, and marriages release.

Male-owned taxpaying estates also had an average net estate of £1.3 million in the 2022 to 2023 tax year, slightly higher than the average net estate of female-owned taxpaying estates of £1.2 million.

7.3 Marital status

In the tax year 2022 to 2023, estates owned by deceased widowed individuals or deceased individuals who were a surviving civil partner, had an overall tax liability of £3.76 billion (56% of the total). Estates owned by deceased individuals with ‘other’ marital status (i.e. single or divorced individuals or individuals whose civil partnerships had been dissolved) had an overall tax liability of £2.4 billion (36% of the total). Estates owned by individuals who were married or in a civil partnership at the time of their death had a tax liability of £543 million (8% of the total).

Marital status is an important determinant of an estate’s IHT liability. If an individual is married or in a civil partnership at the time of their death, they can benefit from the spouse and civil partnership exemption when transferring wealth to their surviving spouse or civil partner. The use of this exemption is detailed in Table 12.2.

Assuming they do not transfer wealth to any other individuals and leave everything to their surviving spouse or civil partner, they also transfer any unused proportion of their NRB and RNRB if they are eligible. This means that the estates of widowed individuals or surviving civil partners can benefit from higher tax-free allowances when they themselves pass away and transfer wealth. More detail on these allowances and their eligibility criteria is set out in the background quality report accompanying these statistics.

Note, however, that the estates of married and civil partnership individuals can still pay IHT if they do not transfer all of their wealth to their surviving spouse or civil partner on their death.

8. Regional breakdown

Tables 12.8 and 12.9 show the number of estates resulting in a tax charge, and the total amount charged, by geographical region, defined in various different ways. Note that in the 2022 to 2023 tax year, IHT was still a tax based on the domicile of the deceased, rather than the reported residency status or location of their main UK home, and so regional breakdowns are provided for illustrative purposes only. For more information, please see the regional breakdown section of the background quality report accompanying these statistics. For more information on IHT for long-term UK residents following the recent policy changes, please see the relevant section of the guidance.

London and the South East of England have the highest numbers of estates passing on death which resulted in an IHT charge, at 5,100 and 6,650 estates respectively. These regions both accounted for £1.53 billion and £1.45 billion of the total tax liability created for the tax year 2022 to 2023 respectively. In the tax year 2022 to 2023, 53% of the IHT liability for England was concentrated in these regions alone - the average taxpayer in London was charged £300,000. London and the South East account for 44% of the total IHT charged across the UK.

The lowest number of taxpaying estates were found in the North East of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. This may be attributed to lower house prices in those regions, and therefore the lower values of wealth transfers that fell above the tax-free allowances that triggered a tax charge.

9. Trusts

9.1 About IHT trust charges and these statistics

IHT is also due on assets within certain trusts whenever a chargeable event occurs. This could be when assets are transferred into or out of a trust, where an entry or exit (also known as ‘proportionate’) charge may be due, or on the ten year anniversary of a trusts’ creation, where an anniversary charge may be due. More details on trusts and IHT charges for trusts can be found on the Trusts and Taxes guidance.

Tables 12.7a, 12.7b and 12.7c show the number of IHT trust charges, as well as the total tax liability due on those charges. These statistics are shown for the tax year 2010 to 2011 to the tax year 2023 to 2024. Some volatility around these figures is to be expected due to relatively small numbers and because charges are due for different trusts in different tax years. It is also possible for trusts to face several types of charge in a given tax year, and so could appear in multiple tables, or multiple times within the same table, depending on the number of chargeable events that take place. For instance, if a trust made several taxable exits in a particular tax year, then each of those exits would result in a separate exit charge, and that trust would appear several times in the relevant table. Therefore, caution must be used when interpreting these statistics.

Information for the most recent years is deemed to be incomplete because of delays in submitting accounts; therefore, complete information is not available for some time after the chargeable event. The estimates for tax years 2021 to 2022, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 should therefore be used with caution as they may not represent the total population. Estimates will be subject to further revisions in the next publication (scheduled July 2026) as more information becomes available. The majority of trusts are non-taxpaying due to the tax-free threshold and are not included in these statistics.

9.2 Changes to these statistics

Following a consultation on changes to HMRC statistics, we now publish information about entry and exit (proportionate) charges paid by taxpaying trusts, as well as those taxpaying trusts paying ten year anniversary charges. Publishing information on all types of IHT trust charges provides a more complete picture of the activities of taxpaying trusts.

9.3 Commentary on these statistics

Tables 12.7a shows how the net chargeable value of taxable transfers into trusts has averaged at around £59 million between the tax years 2010 to 2011 and 2023 to 2024. The net chargeable value of taxable transfers into trusts was particularly high for the tax year 2019 to 2020, with a value of £130 million declared from 42 chargeable events. Despite this, the number of entry charges has remained low, with a total of around 1,115 entry charges paid over the entire period - an average of fewer than 90 per tax year. HMRC collects relatively small amounts in tax from such entry charges - an average of less than £8 million a year over the period.

Table 12.7b and Figure 5 show how the net chargeable value of trusts paying the ten year anniversary charge has increased in recent years to a peak of just under £3.8 billion declared for the 2017 to 2018 tax year. The number of ten year anniversary charges also peaked in that year, at just under 2,000. Since then, the number of trusts and their value has fallen. This could be a consequence of the 2006 trust reforms to tackle tax avoidance using trusts. As part of this package, inheritance tax charges were applied to some types of trust to counter the use of trusts as a means of sheltering wealth. The reduction in assets held in trust may reflect a number of older existing trusts coming to the end of their natural life and a lack of new ones being created. HMRC collects most of total IHT trust charge tax from ten year anniversary charges - with an average total tax liability of around £88 million a year over the period, and a peak of £159 million in respect of the 2017 to 2018 tax year.

Figure 5: Number of chargeable trusts and net chargeable value of assets held in taxpaying trusts, tax year 2010 to 2011 to tax year 2023 to 2024

A chart showing the number and net capital value of trusts liable to ten year anniversary charges in the stated tax year.

Table 12.7c shows how the net chargeable value of taxable transfers out of trusts was also high for the 2017 to 2018 tax year, with just over £1.1 billion declared in 2,400 chargeable events. However, the number of exit charges has been falling from a peak of just under 3,000 in the tax year 2014 to 2015. HMRC collects relatively small amounts in tax from such exit (proportionate) charges - an average of around £14 million a year over the period.

9.4 How these statistics differ from other HMRC statistics on trusts

HMRC produces further statistics on trusts. There is a difference in coverage of trusts that pay IHT trust charges and those that face other types of tax charge, as reported in HMRC’s trust statistics publication.

This IHT liabilities statistics publication will include the information of any trusts that face an IHT trust charge as a chargeable event has occurred. It will only include the information of taxpaying trusts. The HMRC trust statistics publication will contain the information of any trusts that submit Self Assessment (SA) returns, regardless of taxpaying status.

For more information on how the coverage of the statistics in this release differs from those in HMRC’s trust statistics, please the coverage section of the background quality report accompanying these statistics.                                                                                          

10. Statistical disclosure control

HMRC uses statistical disclosure control (SDC) to ensure that individuals or groups can’t be identified from statistical data. This means that:

• confidential information about a person or unit (such as a household or business) is not made available; and

• different outputs from the same source, or outputs from different sources, can’t be combined to reveal information about a person or a group of people.

HMRC uses a combination of suppression and rounding for disclosure control. For example, suppression of data, so that the cell value in a table (which may be disclosive where, for instance, the value is small) is not given.

11. Future releases

Next year’s release (scheduled for July 2026) will contain statistics on those estates reported to HMRC through tax forms, together with those estates’ created IHT charges (if applicable), for the tax year 2023 to 2024.