Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to conduct a consultation with the owners of family farms about their inheritance tax reforms.

The Government’s reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 achieve the right balance between supporting businesses, including farms, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.

A technical consultation will be published shortly. As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the focus of the consultation will be on the detailed application of the £1m allowance to lifetime transfers into trusts and charges on trust property. This will inform the legislation to be included in a future Finance Bill and the Government welcomes engagement on this technical issue. There are no plans to expand the scope of the consultation.