The Government is set to accrue over £5.35 billion from death related taxes and fees in 2019/20, the largest amount ever recorded.
According to ‘The Cost of Death‘ report, carried out by The Taxpayers’ Alliance, the government are on course to rinse more money out of deceased estates than ever before – even if the proposed Statutory Instrument aiming to increase probate fees – remains unused on the proverbial shelf gathering dust.
The Government is set To Earn £5.35 Billion In Death Costs Without Probate Fee Increases.
The report found that the average cost executors and loved ones are expected to pay before the probate process can be administered is £405.
However, The Taxpayers’ Alliance has suggested that these costs of death, harvested through probate fees, death certificates and land registration fees are on the precipice of increasing exponentially.
The report urges the government to reassess the proposed increase to probate fees and cancel the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Act completely, claiming the ‘stealth tax’ is an assault on grieving families and the ‘height of insensitivity’.
Additionally, the report claims that the financial cost of death is already too severe. The London average of £60,773,when inheritance tax and the myriad other charges are calculated, was used to emphasize the issue. They also speculate that this figure will rise to £61,308 if the government enforce the probate fees rises.
Those working for the Taxpayers’ Alliance are hoping that politicians will ‘see sense and kill it stone dead.’
It is thought that the bill, in its current iteration, is unlikely to pass through parliament or even sanctioned through the Statutory Instrument because of a number of technical faults which could be exploited to create accountability loopholes.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has sent its research to both the Treasury and the Ministry of Justice in a bid to force a U-turn on probate fee increases.
John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, commented:
“Why work so hard to look after your children if the taxman guzzles it all up anyway?
“The cost of probate may not be top of the list of priorities, but hopefully this stealth death tax rise will be dropped and taxpayers can breathe a massive sigh of relief.”
