Inheritance Tax (United Kingdom) - History

History

From 1796, small inheritance taxes, then called legacy, succession and estate duties were collected, in England and Wales on estates over a certain value by stamping deeds and by stamping wills admitted to probate, similarly to stamp duty. The value varied and the scope of estate duty became gradually extended as the socio-economic parish level land taxation system obsolesced as a result of the Industrial Revolution, see the poor rate and Old Poor Law. From 1857, estates worth over £20 were taxable but duty was rarely collected on estates valued under £1,500. Death duties were introduced in 1894 and the rates have been increased which led in many cases for the first time to the breaking up of large estates. Estate Duty began, at a more typical rate of tax, starting in 1914 under the First Asquith ministry that was a breakthrough in constitutional terms and social terms by introducing the People's Budget and the first written right of the House of Commons to ascendancy in the Parliament of the United Kingdom under the Parliament Act 1911.

In 2007, 94% of all estates escaped Inheritance Tax, mainly because they fell in the nil rate band.

Estate duty was replaced in 1975 by Capital Transfer Tax, which was renamed Inheritance Tax (IHT) in 1986. There are a few simple and widely used methods available to avoid it, often resulting in additional income and capital gains taxes on trusts, however Inheritance Tax accounts for about 0.8% of government income, raising around £2 billion in 2001 and around £2.7 billion in 2011.