The biggest inheritance tax (IHT) bills were paid by the residents of Kensington, one of the country’s wealthiest central London boroughs, where the average inheritance tax charge was £1.4m in 2022-23.

London alone paid 23% of the total IHT in 2022-23 with a mighty bill for £1.54bn, while the wider southeast stacked up £1.47bn at 22%, totalling £3.01bn. The rest of the country paid £3.69bn, and this figure is soaring with rising property prices and decades of frozen thresholds.

While swanky Kensington may be paying an average seven figure IHT bill, down the road in southwest London, Wimbledon estates had among the highest IHT exposure, paying an average of £566,000 each. The analysis of the figures by TWM Solicitors, a private wealth and family law firm, found that the southwest of England was the third most likely to be affected, where £737m was shelled out, accounting for 11% of the total annual IHT take of £7bn. Yorkshire paid 4% totalling £268m, while Wales paid £134m and Scotland £335m.

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