Death and taxes are inevitable, but the latter burden could be lightened by the end of 2019 if chancellor Sajid Javid follows through on hints that he is considering an IHT cut.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, Javid was asked if he would scrap the unpopular tax.
He said that he “understood the arguments against [it]”.
“You pay taxes already through work or through investments and your capital gains in other taxes, there is a real issue with then asking them to, on that income, to pay taxes all over again.
“Sensible changes have already been made but it’s something that’s on my mind,” Javid added.
Any changes could be announced in a budget, which he said would happen before the end of the year.
Record IHT paid
Fewer than 5% of UK deaths trigger IHT, which equates to around 25,000 estates.
With the nil-rate band fixed at £325,000 ($399,088, €365,817), most people are unlikely to incur the 40% tax on anything above that figure.
But the threshold has not changed since 2009, meaning that a rising numbers of estates are creeping beyond it.
An IHT cut prove to be an attractive policy for the Tory party as it looks to remain in power beyond Brexit.
But the revenue generated from it is substantial and a cut is by no means guaranteed.
As reported by International Adviser, the UK IHT take hit £5.4bn during 2018/19 – up 3% from the previous year.
The government may decide that now is not the right time to take such a financial hit.
