The £5.2bn figure represented an 8% increase, with London and the south east being the highest paying areas, say tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.
 
The firm believes there will be a “shifting demographic” of those who pay the tax in the coming years, brought about by the increased value of housing.

The company also believes current IHT reliefs and exemptions could be restricted.

Rebecca Goldring, a manager at the firm, said: “As expected, the burden of IHT lies largely in the south of England with London and the South East being the highest paying areas.
 
“With the surge in property prices in the last decade, particularly in those regions, the increase in collections was predictable and I envisage further rises in the years to come.”
 
She added: “IHT was once a tax that only the rich and super rich actually paid and was not a concern for the majority.

“In reality though, largely owing to housing price increases, we now expect that in the years to come the middle and working class families may also have to pay the tax.”
 
Another area where the tax take had increased was from so-called non-doms.

Ms Goldring added: “This is not however surprising, particularly as from April 2017 we saw a wave of new IHT rules for example the introduction of IHT charges for overseas individuals owning UK residential property through non-UK holding structures.”
 
She added: “With the Government pledging earlier this year to review the current inheritance tax system with a view to making a ‘particularly complex’ tax ‘fit for purpose’, we expect to see further changes.
 
“Such changes could include restricting the availability of the current reliefs and exemption and the ways in which people can efficiently pass on wealth to the next generation during their lifetime.”