Half of all inheritance tax was paid by individuals in London and the South East in 2010-11, research has shown.
The two regions accounted for as much inheritance tax revenue as the rest of the UK put together, according to analysis of HMRC data by Prudential.
The study, based on the latest publicly available regional data on tax receipts,
found £1.3 billion in receipts from London and the South East.
This represented half of all the inheritance tax paid nationally, even though only 42% of liable estates were located there.
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Estates liable for inheritance tax in the UK that year faced a bill of nearly £166,000 on average and receipts totalled £2.6 billion from approximately 15,600 estates.
HMRC reviewed nearly 260,000 estates in the 2010-2011 tax year, meaning inheritance tax was paid by only 6% of estates, a figure similar to the two previous years.
This was much lower between 2005 and 2008, when more than 10% of estates were liable for inheritance tax.
Graeme Robb, a tax specialist at Prudential, said: "These figures reveal that a huge amount of inheritance tax is paid by a relatively small number of people. "Nevertheless, it is likely that an average bill of more than £160,000 would be unwelcome for any family."
The average amount paid in inheritance tax in London and the South East was considerably more than in other parts of the country.
Whereas the average estate liable for inheritance tax in Wales faced a bill of £126,000, and in the North East of England £130,000, the figure for the South East of England was £174,000 and £234,000 in London.
In both Northern Ireland and the North East of England only 200 estates were liable for inheritance tax, yet many individual counties in the South East of England saw far more estates above the threshold – including Surrey (810), West Sussex (530) and Hampshire (500).