UK households get '£14k HMRC bill' after 'gifts go wrong'

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HMRC has issued demands to 14,000 families following failed attempts to shrink their estates via lifetime transfers. Inheritance tax bills have been dispatched to more than 10,000 households across the UK - after a benefactor died before the crucial seven-year period had elapsed.

Revenue data reveals that 14,030 transfers became liable for inheritance tax throughout the 2022-23 tax year. Fatalities occurring within three to seven years of making the transfer result in reduced levy rates spanning from eight to 32 per cent.

Michelle Holgate from investment house RBC Brewin Dolphin cautioned: "Strategic gifting was once seen as a tactic of the super-affluent, but has now gone mainstream." Michelle explained: "We're getting inquiries in particular from fa