Independent advice firm deVere Group’s CEO has warned the UK’s chancellor could face “national backlash” if she tinkers with inheritance tax thresholds and rules any further at the upcoming Budget.
Nigel Green, CEO of the advice group, said that altering thresholds now would “trigger a backlash unlike anything the Treasury has faced in years”, adding that international comparisons strengthen the case for retaining the current structure.
A lifetime cap on the value of gifts people can pass on before they die has been suggested, as has an extension on the seven-year period where IHT has to be paid after receiving a gift.
He said: “Inheritance tax is already regarded as the most-hated tax in the country. People accept income tax, they accept VAT and they even tolerate capital gains tax, yet they see inheritance tax as fundamentally unfair because it strikes after a lifetime of tax-paying.
“Reducing allowances would not simply annoy voters – it would infuriate them. Other countries are moving in the opposite direction because they recognise the long-term benefit of allowing families to pass on assets without punitive intervention. The UK cannot afford to drift backwards.”
It comes after inheritance tax receipts for April 2025 to October 2025 were £5.2bn, with HMRC on track for another record year.
