The government is giving some of the wealthiest families in the UK up to £666 million a year in generous inheritance tax reliefs on land and business property, according to data uncovered by Tax Justice UK. This report provides evidence of how inheritance tax reliefs work to protect the assets of already wealthy families in a way that is hard to justify.

This research finds that 261 families with agricultural property worth more than £1 million, shared £208m in tax relief in 2015/16 whilst 234 families with business assets worth over £1m shared £458m. This system of generous tax reliefs is working to significantly reduce the inheritance tax bills of wealthy families. The total cost of these reliefs was £1billion in 2018/19 alone, equivalent to the cost of employing 26,000 NHS nurses.

Published in June 2019 by Tax Justice UK.