Inheritance tax ''hitting more Brits''

If the threshold for inheritance tax begins to include more UK postcodes then an estimated 4.3 million homes could be liable for the tax by 2020, according to one bank.

Halifax has reported that the average house price in 11 per cent of postcode districts throughout England and Wales is above the threshold for inheritance tax with the worst-affected areas being London and the south-east.

People in those postcodes pay a 40 per cent tax on assets over £285,000.

However the Halifax is calling for the threshold to move in line with house price inflation so that you would only need to pay the tax on assets over £460,000 as the figures stand today.

Tim Crawford, from the Halifax, said: "The potential reach of inheritance tax is extending year by year across the country.

"We call on the government to commit to increase the inheritance tax threshold in line with house price inflation in the future."

Yorkshire and the Humber are the only remaining English regions without postcode districts with property prices falling above £300,000.


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