A quarter of estates that pay IHT are investigated by HMRC

In the 2018/19 tax year, there were around 22,000 estates liable to pay inheritance tax (IHT) and, of those, 5,537 - just over 25% - were investigated by the taxman. As the following table shows, since the 2013/14 tax year, HMRC has investigated more than 5,000 estates every 12 months while, in 2013/14, more than 6,000 investigations were opened. Quilter tax and financial planning expert Gordon Andrews said: "Inheritance tax is infamous for being not only disliked but complex and at times deeply unfair. On top of everything, there is almost a one in four chance HMRC will investigat...