Inheritance tax receipts for April 2021 to December 2021 were £4.6bn, £0.6bn higher than in the same period a year earlier.

The amount paid in inheritance tax in the 2021 calendar year was £5.9bn, a record high for any calendar year.

It compares to £5.2bn paid in the 2020 calendar year.

HMRC has attributed high receipts between March and August 2021 to higher volumes of wealth transfers taking place due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, the rise is partially due to the 2020 comparison period when HMRC faced disruption affecting its ability to process payments.

IHT receipts for the government 10 years ago were below £4bn annually but have risen steadily since to top £5bn each year, a +20% rise.

Probate fees are set to increase from tomorrow.

The fees are to rise 27% for personal applications and 76% for applications made through a professional. The rate will now be equalised at £273 for both personal and professional applications.

Previous proposals would have seen fees based around a banded structure but they were found to have introduced unnecessary complexity into the system.

Shaun Moore, tax and Financial Planning expert at Quilter, said ongoing house price rises are likely to continue to push IHT receipts higher.

He said: “With property prices continuing to rise, even though the stamp duty holiday is a distant memory, IHT payer’s bills will rise in future with the ongoing house price inflation. This increases the government’s tax take with seemingly not too much of an additional burden on taxpayers.”