Bumper year for HMRC as IHT and stamp duty receipts surge to record highs

Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on the publication of the HMRC latest tax and NIC data, showing it’s been a bumper year for HMRC as IHT and stamp duty receipts surge to record highs.

Key points from publication:
  • Inheritance tax receipts for April 2021-Feb 2022 hit £5.5bn. This already surpasses the previous high for the 2018/19 tax year of £5.36bn.
  • Stamp duty continued to perform strongly with receipts of £16.9bn. This is a massive £6.1bn higher than last year and tops the previous total for the 2017/18 tax year of £16.43bn.
  • Income tax and national insurance receipts continued to grow as the number of paid employees grew by 4.8%.
Helen Morrissey says:

“It’s been a bumper year for HMRC with inheritance tax and stamp duty surging to all-time highs this month while the growing number of people returning to the workforce means income tax and national insurance receipts continue to grow.

“It is hugely positive to see people going back to work, but this data shows the heavy toll the pandemic has laid on society with inheritance tax receipts hitting all-time highs – they could hit as much as £6bn by the end of the tax year. This is largely because of an increased number of wealth transfers throughout the year.

“While we hope the number of transfers will drop as the pandemic claims fewer lives, we will still see more estates become liable over the coming years as the freezing of inheritance tax thresholds continues to bite.

“Stamp duty has been a stellar performer – up a massive £6.1bn on the same period last year and surging past the previous high set in 2017-18. This is largely due to the stamp duty holiday which ended at the end of September 2021 and the so-called race for space as people looked to move out of cities in favour of larger properties with gardens. These factors kept the property market red hot until the end of the year. However, whether the market can continue to maintain this momentum remains to be seen.”

 

Kindly shared by Hargreaves Lansdown

Main photo courtesy of Pixabay