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After Inheritance Tax (IHT) receipts doubled between 2012–2022, the latest figures from HMRC revealed that 2023–2024 is on track to become another record-breaking year for IHT revenue.
In 2022–2023, the Treasury raised £7.1 billion from IHT receipts, and based on figures from this April–May being up 9.1% (£1.2 billion) on the previous year, this is likely to rise again to £7.7 billion for the current financial year.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted that annual IHT bills will only raise £7.2 billion this year and reach £8.4 billion by 2027–2028, but the early data suggests that the Treasury’s takings will surpass the official forecasts.
This is likely due to the ongoing nil-rate band (NRB) threshold freeze – fixing the tax-free IHT allowance at £325,000 until 2028 – combined with increasing property values.
With more estates being dragged into the IHT net, the average bill is now almost £62,000, with even larger amounts due for estates that include property in London or South East England.
Here’s a summary of what’s happening with IHT, and what you can do to minimise your estate’s Inheritance Tax liability and leave as much as possible to your loved ones.

There are many reasons why it may be necessary to file a Self-Assessment tax return, but most workers who are taxed through PAYE are exempt from having to do this.

This exemption previously had a total income ceiling of £100,000, but this threshold is now increasing to £150,000 (including gross salary, taxable benefits, and investment income).

At the end of May, HMRC confirmed in Issue 108 of Agent Update that the higher threshold for Self-Assessment tax returns will apply from the current tax year onwards.

This means that PAYE taxpayers who would have been required to complete a Self-Assessment return under the previous threshold – earning over £100,000 a year but less than £150,000 a year – may no longer have to do so from the 2023–2024 tax year.

Under Ofgem’s latest price cap revision, annual energy bills for typical households are expected to fall to £2,074 from 1st July 2023 – the lowest in over a year.

The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) that the government introduced last October capped energy prices per unit to limit the average bill to £2,500 a year until 30th June 2023, helping domestic consumers to save compared to Ofgem’s £3,280 cap for the current quarter.

The EPG is due to increase to £3,000 from 1st July and will remain in place until March 2024, but Ofgem reducing their cap to £2,074 means most people are unlikely to pay that much.

This seems like good news for families, home-based employees, and small business owners working from a residence – but will energy bills really change that drastically?

In March 2023, as the 2022–2023 tax year drew to a close, the Office for Budget Responsibility published its full ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’ report, detailing its economic forecasts for the next five years.

The report predicts the effectiveness of policy measures announced from the Autumn Statement 2022 to the Spring Budget 2023, and whether the government will meet its fiscal targets by the 2027–2028 tax year.

Amongst the projected outcomes are an expected increase in higher rate taxpayers and corporate tax yield – read on to learn more about the UK tax forecast and what these figures could mean for you.

If you’re self-employed and have to submit your own Self-Assessment tax returns, the new tax year might be longer than you were expecting.

Normally, self-employed taxpayers are taxed on their profits made in their accounting year ending within the tax year. However, the government wants to speed up the tax return process by making self-employed earners pay tax on their profits made in the tax year instead.

Moving from the individual’s accounting year system – or ‘current year basis’ – to a tax year basis means catching up by paying tax on more than twelve months of profits in one tax year.

Unless your accounting year ends on 31st March or 5th April, more or less aligning with the tax year already, this will begin to take effect in the current 2023–2024 tax year. Read on to learn about why this is happening and how it could impact your self-employed business.

A recent investigation into Child Trust Funds by the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that almost £400 million is languishing across hundreds of thousands of unclaimed accounts, with many children unaware that they could have several hundred pounds waiting for them.

Child Trust Funds were set up by the Labour government under Gordon Brown, creating savings accounts for more than 6 million children who were born between September 2002–January 2011. The government paid around £2 billion into these accounts in free cash vouchers of up to £250, or £500 for low-income families, so each account will have at least this amount in it.

With Child Trust Funds being locked until the child’s eighteenth birthday, and no new accounts being opened since the scheme was scrapped over a decade ago, many parents will have forgotten about them – or may have never been aware that their child has one.

However, the money is still out there and can still be claimed – if you were born between 1st September 2002 and 2nd January 2011, or the parent of a child who was born between these dates, this blog explains what you should know about these forgotten funds.