But Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Old Mutual Wealth, points to a commissioned research report looking at how the inheritance tax system is functioning and suggests this provides a further hint the IHT system is "in the crosshairs for future reform".
The system is not without its complexities, so the government may seek to reform it in order to make it more straightforward.
"HM Revenue & Customs’ research focused on business property relief and agricultural property relief, likely seeking to see if the allowances were being misused," Ms Griffin explains.
"However, the report notes the majority of people are using the exemptions as they are supposed to be used, to allow them to keep the business or farm in the family, without having to break it up or sell some or all of the assets to pay an inheritance tax bill."
She adds: "Indeed, many business-owners feel that their businesses would likely be sold to cover IHT bills if the relief were not available."
Her advice for those who are thinking about estate planning now is to keep an eye out for IHT reform and ultimately to seek advice from a financial planner.
Trusts and estate planning
The taxation of trusts could be one area to watch for in the future as the government announced a consultation on this subject in the Budget yesterday (22 November).
The findings of the consultation are set to be published in 2018.
Les Cameron, tax expert at Prudential, asks whether this might make it harder to reduce an IHT bill.
“The government has looked to simplify the IHT treatment of trusts fairly recently,” he acknowledges. “The changes mooted - broadly having only one nil rate band available for lifetime gifting - did not go ahead.
“We will need to see if this will be a measure that makes it harder to reduce your IHT bill or easier to administer the taxation of the trusts.”
He believes it is far too early to tell if this will be good or bad for trusts planning.
“However, it should be remembered that this does not detract from trusts planning. In many cases the use of trusts is about controlling the passing on of your wealth as opposed to making it more tax efficient.”
Offshore interests
The government launched a consultation paper alongside the Budget, which will look at the way commercial property and land in the UK is taxed when it is disposed of by non-residents.
As it stands, non-residents do not have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) when they sell these assets but the consultation paper proposes removing this CGT exemption.
For advisers, this may only apply to a small proportion of their clients but is worth noting.
