HMRC analyst gets award for IHT reforms role – reports

Reports prompt outrage from farmers

Jen Frost
clock • 2 min read

HM Revenue and Customs has reportedly given its ‘Expert of the year’ award to an analyst said to be in part responsible for pensions and agricultural property relief (APR) inheritance tax (IHT) changes, prompting anger from farmers.

HMRC head of inheritance tax James Mee was given the award last month, the Telegraph reported. "I was proud and humbled to win HMRC's 'Expert of the Year' award for 2025 last month," Mee wrote in a Linkedin post. "This was for my work in providing ministers with the analysis they requested to announce several major IHT reforms at last year's Autumn Budget, including restricting agricultural and business property reliefs and extending IHT to unspent pensions." In last year's Autumn Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that unused pension pots would be brought into IHT's scope fro...

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