Some facts and figures that are useful to know as the battle around inheritance tax in the UK will most likely come to the fore again following reports that the government is considering changing it.
The vast majority of deaths do not involve any inheritance tax charge at all:
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
And the rate paid by those who do is far lower than the headline 40% rate.
t…he 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.