HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data released Wednesday, October 21, showed the UK government collected £936 million ($1.3 billion) in inheritance tax in September 2026 — the highest monthly total on record.
HMRC attributed the rise to the government’s decision to freeze inheritance-tax-free thresholds, combined with rising asset values and a growing volume of wealth transfers, and said it expects receipts to keep climbing in the years ahead for the same reasons. The September figure is a distinct data point from the broader pressure UK family businesses have reported facing from inheritance tax ahead of planned reforms to business-relief rules, underscoring that record receipts are already showing up in HMRC’s own monthly collections data, not just in forward-looking estimates.
References
Bloomberg – UK Inheritance Tax Receipts Hit Highest on Record in September
