The government’s inheritance tax (IHT) take has continued to increase, with receipts totalling £6.3bn between April and December 2024, HMRC’s latest figures have shown.

This represents a £600m increase compared to the same period last year, with receipts on track to beat 2023’s record of £7.5bn.

The record high IHT take does not come as a surprise, with IHT thresholds being frozen until 2030, coupled with rising property values, bringing more people into scope of the tax.

Further changes, most notably bringing unspent pension pots into scope of IHT from 2027, means that IHT receipts are forecast to increase further, up to £13.9bn in 2029/30.

Capital gains tax (CGT) receipts have also continued to rise, reaching £335m in December alone.

The government’s changes to CGT, and people’s anticipation of the changes, at the Autumn Budget has resulted in an increased CGT take, with receipts up by 60 per cent year-on-year in the last three months of 2024 to £808m.

From April to December 2024, HMRC’s total CGT receipts were £1.85bn, up by around £400m compared to the same period in 2023.

Commenting on the IHT figures, Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey, said: “The IHT take continues to creep up. By the end of December, receipts had already hit £6.3bn making it highly likely that 2024-25 will be a record year for HMRC.

“A mixture of soaring property values mixed with frozen thresholds have done the job of pulling an ever-increasing number of families into paying IHT. With government plans to make pensions subject to IHT from 2027, we will see even more families hit with a bill in future.”

Utmost Wealth Solutions head of UK technical services, Simon Martin, added: “IHT is delivering record receipts for the Treasury as asset prices rise while the thresholds remain frozen in place, a policy that has now been extended until the end of the decade.

“Additional reforms such as charging IHT on pension wealth at death and limits to agricultural and business reliefs will raise billions more pounds in tax receipts for the government and increase the proportion of estates liable for the tax.

"However, there are steps to mitigate the impact of IHT and so people should urgently assess the value of their estate to see if they are likely to be impacted.

“We are seeing a significant increase in clients seeking professional advice around IHT to ensure they fully understand the implications of the reforms. There are complexities such as the tapering of the Residence Nil Rate Band for estates of a certain value which can potentially add to IHT liabilities.”

Meanwhile, with regard to the data on CGT, Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance, Sarah Coles, stated: “The Budget delivered for the taxman. The CGT rate was raised for stocks and shares, and the CGT bill rose in December to £335m: its highest since March.

“In the last three months of 2024, we paid £808m in CGT. That’s up an impressive 60 per cent in a year. Over the entire year, CGT is up 13 per cent.

“The rise is partly a result of the higher rates introduced in the Budget, but also due to the fact that so many people brought gains forward ahead of the Budget, so they could pay any tax while they knew where they stood.”

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