4.3m homes 'liable for inheritance tax'
Around 4.3 million homes could be liable for inheritance tax (IHT) by 2020 if the threshold is only increased in line with retail price inflation, the bank Halifax has claimed.Currently the average house price in 236 postcodes districts is above the IHT threshold of £300,000 due to the boom in house prices over the past few years, a Halifax survey revealed.However the figure has almost doubled since 2001 when 117 postcode districts were revealed to be heavily taxed with IHT. Although the majority of the postcodes heavily burdened with IHT are located in London and the south-east, the bank points out that postcode districts with more than 25 per cent of home sales above the IHT threshold exist in all regions of England and Wales.The two postcodes with the highest average house prices above the IHT threshold were named as SW1X in Knightsbridge and SW7 in Kensington with homes in those exclusive London areas selling for £1,259,050 and £1,105,491 respectively.Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax, said: "The potential reach of inheritance tax is extending year by year across the country."We call on the government to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £460,000. That would account for the significant rise in house prices over the past 11 years."We also call on the government to commit to increase the inheritance tax threshold in line with house price inflation in the future," he added.
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