Death duties set to soar to £6.7bn

FAMILIES are set to pay a record amount in inheritance tax this year.

The Treasury took £5.3billion in death duties in the nine months from April to December – up £ 00million on the £4.6billion paid during the same period in 2021, and matching full-year takings for 2020-21.

The total is at an all-time high due to frozen thresholds and high house prices.

Receipts for the 2022-23 tax year are expected to exceed official forecasts, with the Office for Budget Responsibility predicting a record take of £6. billion.

The typical bill for families who pay inheritance tax could rise to £252,000 this year, according to the Wealth Club, an investment group which made calculations based on HMRC data. This is up £36,000 in three years.

The first £325,000 of inheritances are tax free, a threshold unchanged since 2009.

There is an extra allowance of £1 5,000 when property is left to ‘direct descendants’ such as children or grandchildren.