Inheritance tax victory as Hunt may leave IHT ‘well alone’

Inheritance tax is charged at 40 percent above a particular threshold, usually £325,000, and increasing numbers of people are paying the levy due to the impacts of inflation. With more people affected, understanding the potential implications and future of the tax will be key. Express.co.uk spoke exclusively to Michael Culver, chairman at Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE), who offered insight on how the tax may be tackled in the upcoming Autumn Statement. He said: ‘I suspect inheritance tax allowances will be continually frozen by the new Chancellor.’It is highly unlikely things like the nil-rate band will ever increase any time soon. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if inheritance tax is completely ignored, as it has been in the last few budgets, as it can be a touchy subject.’READ MORE: State pension petition could be debated in Parliament Inheritance tax: Hunt may leave tax ‘well alone’ – but ‘slight tweaks’ could impact Britons (Image: Getty)Inheritance tax is perpetually unpopular, with many people describing it as a ‘death tax’, while others suggest it is restrictive on income before death. Leaving the levy in its current iteration, however, would not be detrimental for Mr Hunt.Mr Culver continued: ‘Inheritance tax as it currently is does not provide a massive amount of income for the Treasury, compared to some of the other taxes.’However, simply by doing nothing, the inheritance tax take for the Treasury is growing each year due to rising values.DON’T MISSBritons hit with 55% pension tax as allowance ‘more than halved’ [INSIGHT]UK state pension lags behind other nations in payouts [ANALYSIS]Warning as savers unknowingly walk into ‘tax liability’ for first time [LATEST] Inheritance tax: All eyes are on Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak’s update this coming week (Image: Getty)What is happening where you live? Find out by adding your postcode or visit InYourArea He has stated Britain faces a ‘tough road ahead’ as a bleak recession looms large over the UK.Consequently, the Chancellor may try to raise money for the Treasury by hiking taxes – but will inheritance tax escape unscathed? Mr Culver concluded: ‘Inheritance tax is unpopular, and any changes made to this tax will be viewed negatively.’It would bring up the debate again as to whether or not we need inheritance tax, or what it could potentially be replaced with. I’d say Jeremy Hunt wouldn’t want to take that kind of risk.’The tax situation is all a bit of a mess right now. We’ve had a U-turn on the 45 percent rate of income tax being scrapped, and a U-turn on the basic rate of income tax dropping from 20 to 19 percent.’It’s unlikely the Government will want to rock the boat any further, and so they could leave inheritance tax well alone.’