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Rebecca Niblock
An analysis by law firm Kingsley Napley of HMRC inheritance tax data just released for tax year 2022-23 shows the geographical dispersal of estates hit by inheritance tax bills.
Based on the latest HMRC statistics of inheritance tax paying estates, Kingsley Napley can reveal:
- Richmond Park had the highest number of estates affected (184), followed by Finchley & Golders Green and Esher & Walton for the year in question.
- However, by total amount of inheritance tax paid, Kensington topped the leaderboard (again) by contributing £154m to the government’s coffers, followed by Chelsea & Fulham and Finchley & Golders Green localities.
The estates of those who lived in Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner were also some of the biggest contributors to the country’s IHT tax take during 2022-23, both in value and volume of affected estates.
James Ward, Head of the Private Client Practice at Kingsley Napley, comments:
“As usual, London and South-East constituencies top our leaderboard but the bigger picture is that over 15% more estates across the country were dragged into the IHT whirlpool for the year in question due to continued house price growth and the fact tax bands have been stuck since 2009.
With house price growth slowing however, this may no longer be the engine driving the inheritance tax take in future. In the near term it may be the upcoming change to make pensions subject to IHT from 2027 that will impact the rankings more markedly as estate assets are valued on a wider basis.
The expectation is that this will add approximately 10,000 more estates to HMRC’s sights and increase estate values by an average of £34k when pension assets are included (Govt figures).
That said we are advising an increasing number of clients who are engaging in active estate planning given the Government’s tightening death tax grip. There remain various exemptions that can help with the reduction of estates for IHT purposes namely use of the IHT nil rate band, annual exemption, regular gifts out of excess income, gifts of business or agricultural property or potentially exempt transfers.
IHT remains one of the most unpopular taxes that people resent their families or beneficiaries paying, so it makes sense to take advantage of these before Rachel Reeves chokes off mitigation measures given the pressure she is under to find funds for the public purse."
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Tax Receipts By Volume 2022/23 (source HMRC):
|
Rank |
Parliamentary Constituency |
Number |
Amount (£m) |
|
1 |
Richmond Park |
184 |
71 |
|
2 |
Finchley and Golders Green |
183 |
103 |
|
3 |
Esher and Walton |
156 |
52 |
|
4 |
Chesham and Amersham |
143 |
36 |
|
5 |
Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner |
142 |
46 |
|
6 |
Chichester |
142 |
38 |
|
7 |
Epsom and Ewell |
139 |
40 |
|
8 |
Twickenham |
136 |
33 |
|
9 |
Beaconsfield |
136 |
31 |
|
10 |
Worthing West |
136 |
23 |
Tax Receipts By Value 2022/23:
|
Rank |
Parliamentary Constituency |
Amount (£m) |
Number |
|
1 |
Kensington |
154 |
112 |
|
2 |
Chelsea and Fulham |
107 |
96 |
|
3 |
Finchley and Golders Green |
103 |
183 |
|
5 |
Cities of London and Westminster |
85 |
79 |
|
6 |
Hampstead and Kilburn |
84 |
117 |
|
7 |
Richmond Park |
71 |
184 |
|
8 |
Wimbledon |
69 |
124 |
|
9 |
Esher and Walton |
52 |
156 |
|
10 |
South West Surrey |
47 |
135 |
Tax Receipts By Volume 2021/22 (source HMRC):
|
Rank |
Parliamentary Constituency |
Number |
Amount (£m) |
|
1 |
Chichester |
153 |
47 |
|
2 |
Esher and Walton |
150 |
45 |
|
3 |
Finchley and Golders Green |
148 |
59 |
|
4 |
Richmond Park |
145 |
55 |
|
5 |
South West Surrey |
140 |
49 |
|
6 |
Chesham and Amersham |
131 |
35 |
|
7 |
Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner |
127 |
28 |
|
8 |
Hampstead and Kilburn |
123 |
81 |
|
9 |
Chipping Barnet |
121 |
27 |
|
10 |
Hornsey and Wood Green |
121 |
33 |
Tax Receipts By Value 2021/22:
|
Rank |
Parliamentary Constituency |
Amount (£m) |
Number |
|
1 |
Kensington |
103 |
92 |
|
2 |
Hampstead and Kilburn |
81 |
123 |
|
3 |
Chelsea and Fulham |
76 |
106 |
|
4 |
South West Hertfordshire |
61 |
113 |
|
5 |
Finchley and Golders Green |
59 |
148 |
|
6 |
Richmond Park |
55 |
145 |
|
7 |
Cities of London and Westminster |
51 |
77 |
|
8 |
South West Surrey |
49 |
140 |
|
9 |
Chichester |
47 |
153 |
|
10 |
Windsor |
46 |
78 |
Total number of estates caught by IHT in 21/22: 20,566, and in 22/23: 24,381
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Kingsley Napley Inheritance Tax Leaderboard is based on HMRC data from Inheritance Tax Returns published on 31 July 2025 (Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics).
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