HMRC Inheritance Tax Compliance Checks: The Data

HMRC does not publish a single headline count of inheritance tax investigations in its official statistics. What it does publish, and what the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts, gives a clear picture of how much tax is at stake, how many estates pay, and why compliance work happens at all.

This piece pulls the numbers together from named official sources and dates each one. It is general information for England and Wales, not advice, and the underlying rules and figures are current as at July 2026 and subject to change. Where a widely quoted figure is not in the official statistics, we say so rather than fill the gap.

Key figures at a glance

Every row below is a published statistic from a named source, with its reference period and a link. The most recent full-year picture of who pays inheritance tax comes from HMRC's liabilities statistics for the 2022 to 2023 tax year, published on 31 July 2025. Receipts and forecasts are more current. Figures are subject to change.

All figures come from the named source shown and are subject to change. The compliance yield figure is across all taxes, not inheritance tax alone.

Inheritance tax receipts and the compliance backdrop

Inheritance tax receipts have been rising for years, and the forecast keeps climbing. The OBR forecasts inheritance tax will raise £8.7 billion in 2025-26, about 0.7% of all receipts and 0.3% of national income (OBR, 2025-26 forecast, updated 9 February 2026, subject to change). Month to month the totals move around: receipts for April to May 2026 were £1.4 billion, £37 million lower than the same period a year earlier (HMRC receipts bulletin, published 19 June 2026, subject to change).

Compliance activity sits behind these totals. Across all taxes, HMRC reports it secured £48.0 billion of compliance yield in 2024-25, the revenue it estimates would otherwise have been lost (HMRC annual report and accounts 2024-25, subject to change). That figure spans every tax, not inheritance tax alone, so it should not be read as an inheritance tax investigations total.

How many estates actually pay

Fewer than one in twenty estates pays inheritance tax. In the 2022 to 2023 tax year, 4.62% of UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax charge, across 31,500 taxpaying estates, with an average charge of £212,000 (HMRC IHT liabilities statistics, 2022-23, published 31 July 2025, subject to change). Both the count of estates and the share of deaths edged up on the year before.

The headline rate is 40%, charged only on the part of an estate above the available thresholds, with a reduced 36% rate where at least 10% of the net estate passes to charity (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change). Because most estates fall largely within the nil-rate band of £325,000 per person and, where a home passes to descendants, a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change), the tax that is actually paid represents a much lower share of estate value than the headline rate. HMRC's statistics put the average effective rate at around 13% of the value of taxpaying estates (HMRC IHT liabilities statistics, 2022-23, published 31 July 2025, subject to change). We cover this gap in more depth in the effective rate of IHT.

Where the value, and the compliance risk, sit

Reliefs and large estates account for a lot of the numbers. In 2022 to 2023, agricultural and business property relief set against assets totalled £5.28 billion (HMRC IHT liabilities statistics, 2022-23, published 31 July 2025, subject to change). Tax paid also rises steeply with estate size, which is often where valuation questions and compliance checks concentrate.

Valuations of property, private businesses and unquoted shares can be a point of difference between an estate and HMRC, which is one reason many people choose to discuss valuations and relief claims with a qualified professional before an account is submitted. For the mechanics of how the tax works, our Inheritance Tax Explained guide sets out the thresholds and reliefs in full.

What changes from April 2027

The base is set to widen. From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will be brought within the value of a deceased person's estate for inheritance tax (gov.uk technical note, as at July 2026, subject to change). The costing estimates that in 2027-28 around 10,500 estates will become liable to inheritance tax that would not previously have paid, and about 38,500 estates already liable will pay more (OBR supplementary costing, January 2025, subject to change).

The core thresholds are frozen. The nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band and the £2,000,000 taper threshold are held at their current levels to the end of the 2030-31 tax year (5 April 2031) — a freeze extended by a further year at Budget 2025 (26 November 2025), having previously been set to end in 2029-30 (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change). Frozen thresholds and a widening base together tend to pull more estates into charge over time, which many commentators expect to keep compliance work in focus.

What the numbers mean

Read together, the data tells a fairly consistent story: a rising tax take, a small but growing share of estates paying, and most of the value concentrated in larger and relief-heavy estates. That combination is generally what draws compliance attention, because the potential difference between a submitted figure and a correct one is largest where valuations are complex.

A few points of interpretation, offered as general analysis rather than advice. First, the £48.0 billion compliance yield figure is an all-taxes total and cannot be read as inheritance tax investigations (HMRC annual report and accounts 2024-25, subject to change); treat any single "IHT investigations" number you see with care and check where it came from. Second, monthly receipts are noisy, so a single month down on the year, as April to May 2026 was (HMRC receipts bulletin, published 19 June 2026), does not by itself signal a trend. Third, the 2022 to 2023 liabilities data pre-dates the April 2027 pension change, so the share of deaths charged is likely to look different once that reform takes effect. Because errors in an inheritance tax account can be costly, and valuations are often the sticking point, it can be worth discussing an estate with a qualified professional before figures are finalised.

Sources and methodology

Every statistic on this page is drawn from a named official source and dated at its point of use. The figures are as published and have not been rounded, estimated or extrapolated beyond what the source states. Where a commonly quoted number is not in the official statistics, we have said so rather than supply one.

• Office for Budget Responsibility, Inheritance tax. 2025-26 forecast of £8.7 billion; page updated 9 February 2026.
• Office for Budget Responsibility, costing of applying IHT to pension wealth. 10,500 newly liable and 38,500 paying more in 2027-28; January 2025.
• HMRC, Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics: commentary. Taxpaying estates, share of deaths, average and total liability, reliefs and estate-size bands for 2022-23; published 31 July 2025.
• HMRC, tax receipts and National Insurance contributions bulletin. IHT receipts for April to May 2026; published 19 June 2026.
• HMRC annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025. Total compliance yield across all taxes of £48.0 billion.
• HMRC, Inheritance Tax on pensions technical note. Pension funds within the estate from 6 April 2027.
• gov.uk, How Inheritance Tax works and the nil-rate band publication. Rates, thresholds and the freeze to 2030-31.

For the wider context of how this fits into planning, see our estate planning guide.

Frequently asked questions