Money blog: Record inheritance tax haul for Treasury due to backdoor tax rise (2025)

Almost two dozen influencers giving financial advice on social media are being interviewed under caution by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The FCA said those being interviewed were doing so voluntarily.

Known as "finfluencers" (financial influencers), they are being warned about what advice they give to the often younger and impressionable people who follow them online.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of 18 to 29-year-olds follow social media influencers, with three-quarters (74%) of those saying they trust their advice and nine in 10 young followers saying they have been encouraged to change their financial behaviour as a result, the FCA said.

However, it raised concerns about the promotion of credit lending and debt solutions.

The watchdog has been investigating influencers who promote foreign currency and investment products used to bet on the price of an asset (known as CFDs).

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: "Finfluencers need to check the products they promote to ensure they are not breaking the law and putting their followers' livelihoods and life savings at risk."

When investing, it is wise to check if a company is FCA-regulated - this gives you some protection if it's a scam.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its projection for UK growth this year by 0.4% to 1.1% - the largest upward revision for any advanced economy.

In a boost to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares to travel to Washington for the IMF's annual meeting this week, its latest world economic outlook predicts strengthening growth as "falling inflation and interest rates" stimulate demand.

The IMF's improved view of UK performance is a significant increase on its July projection of 0.7% growth this year, and up by 0.6% from its April assessment.

Its projection of 1.5% of GDP growth in 2025 remains unchanged.

Responding to the announcement Ms Reeves, said: "It's welcome that the IMF has upgraded our growth forecast for this year, but I know there is more work to do. That is why the budget next week will be about fixing the foundations to deliver change, so we can protect working people, fix the NHS and rebuild Britain."

The US economy meanwhile is projected to have grown by 2.5% this year, an increase of 0.2% on the July projection, before falling back to 2.2% in 2025.

By contrast, the Euro area is projected to grow by just 0.8% this year, down 0.1%, rising to 1.1% next year, a downgrade of 0.3%.

The IMF's more optimistic view of theUK economycomes after official figures in the last fortnight showed areturn to growthin August following two months of stagnation, and a dip in inflation below theBank of England's target of 2% last month for the first time in three-and-a-half years.

Read Paul Kelso's full piece on the IMF announcement...

TikTok "shopping hauls" and so-called serial returners are fuelling a rise in products being sent back to retailers, with businesses losing an estimated £6.6bn in 2024 as a result.

Serial returners are people who buy items with the deliberate intent of returning them, and while they only account for 11% of online shoppers who are sending back items, they are generating 24% of all online non-food returns. Each one is estimated to send back £1,400 in products.

"Slow returners" are impulsive buyers who often make returns out of buyer's remorse, but account for an additional 21% of all returns (despite only accounting for 11% of overall returners).

The average amount returned by a UK shopper is £650, according to data from Retail Economics and ZigZag.

Almost 70% of Gen Z admit to over-ordering sizes and colours (a practice known as "bracketing"), while just 16% of Baby Boomers do the same.

Millions of videos are posted on TikTok under the hashtag #KeepOrReturn, with people asking their followers which items they should send back.

Many retailers have now introduced paid returns, (such as PrettyLittleThing, who announced a new charge of £1.99 and even banned customers with unusually high returns, or ASOS who have introduced higher fees for individual customers, unless they keep a certain percentage of their order).

Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics, said these high returns could make things more expensive for everyone.

"Serial returners are quietly eroding retail profitability in ways many retailers are only just beginning to understand," he said.

"The rise of opportunistic shopping behaviours, where many people intentionally buy large quantities of goods with the intention of returning most of them, is placing an unprecedented strain on retailers.

"This not only impacts the bottom line through increased operational costs but also creates significant challenges in inventory management and sustainability efforts."

Inheritance tax receipts shot up by £400m between April and September compared with the same period last year, new government figures show.

This meant a record haul for the Treasury of £4.3bn.

One of the main reasons is that, while everything else has been going up due to inflation, the threshold at which people start paying inheritance tax has been frozen.

There's speculation the tax could be hiked in the budget next Wednesday - but the government figures show it is already effectively going up every year.

Jonathan Halberda, specialist financial adviser at Wesleyan Financial Services, said: "As we've already seen in the higher IHT receipts today, the government could simply leave the current £325,000 threshold unchanged and IHT would continue to generate more cash for front-line services."

How inheritance tax currently works

There is no tax if your estate's value is below the £325,000 threshold or you leave your estate to your spouse or civil partner, or an exempt charity or group.

The tax is currently charged at 40% - but only on the part of the estate that lies above the threshold. For example, if someone's estate is worth £400,000 when they die, then £75,000 of that estate would be taxed at 40% (£30,000 total tax).

Bear in mind that if you are married or in a civil partnership, any allowance you don't use can be added to your partner's allowance when they die.

This means a couple can pass on as much as £1m without their estate being subject to inheritance tax.

There are several exemptions, including on agricultural land and family businesses, as well as pension pots.

Read about all the intricacieshere...

How could it change?

People, for example parents, can gift someone large sums and, as long as they don't die within seven years, it won't incur any inheritance tax.

"If the pre-budget rumour mill is to be believed, the chancellor is contemplating extending the length of time you have to wait for gifted assets to be exempt from IHT from the current seven years, perhaps to 10 years," said MrHalberda.

Another option would be increasing the tax rate - or the value people have to pay inheritance from could be lowered.

There are several exemptions, including on agricultural land and family businesses - these could potentially be lifted.

Charlene Young, AJ Bell pensions and savings expert, said: "The chancellor might look in the round at IHT and decide to tweak and reform reliefs and use of trusts, which tend to be tools used by wealthier households. This could potentially be framed as a tax on the wealthiest, sparing the middle classes. Although clearly that depends on your perspective."

What would thresholds be if they hadn't been frozen?

Ms Young said: "Had both bands been uprated with inflation rather than being frozen in 2020, a couple could pass on an estate worth nearer £1.5m today."

How many people does it currently impact?

Ms Young said: "Although IHT is widely disliked, it's worth pointing out that the tax is paid by very few households. Only a tiny fraction of families ever have to pay any IHT at all due to the reliefs available that mean a homeowning couple can normally pass on £1m before IHT kicks in.

"And for those with larger estates, there are various strategies available to allow people to give money away and pass on assets tax efficiently."

ByMegan Harwood-Baynes, cost of living specialist

Molly-Mae Hague's "luxury" fashion line has been criticised as having poor quality, with customers complaining it is a "waste of money".

The 25-year-old Love Island star launched the brand last month to much fanfare, with the entire collection selling out in just 24 minutes. A second restock sold out in three minutes and now Maebe products can be found on second-hand seller sites, like Vinted and Depop, for more than the original price.

The brand promised to bridge the "gap between fast fashion and luxury" and was sold "for the person who seeks a touch of sophistication in their day-to-day style but without the unattainable price point".

But as the pieces begin to arrive, some are criticising the quality, particularly of the blazer - which, despite the £140 price point, is made up of 63% polyester, 19% viscose and 18% acrylic. (For comparison, a similar oversized grey Jaeger jacket sells for £20 more and is made up of 98% wool.)

TikToker Morgan shared a video of the jacket, saying: "It has got so much bobbling already and I literally wore it once for three hours."

She added: "I wore it once and it looks like it is a month old."

Maebe declined to comment on the complaints, but returns information on the website states customers have 14 days to request a return and 30 days to get the item back to them.

"After that, we might not be able to assist you," the website says.

It also says: "All we ask is that items are in an unused, unaltered condition and still fitted with their original tags and security ribbon. If items are rejected upon inspection of the return, this will be sent back to you on a 2nd class postal service."

They also won't take back any items bought through second-hand sellers.

So what can you do if an item doesn't live up to the price point?

Your rights for returns fall under two pieces of legislation - the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Online returns (such as the case with Maebe) fall under the latter and mean you have 14 days to return an item from when it arrives. There are also a few exceptions: perishable items (like food and flowers) are more difficult to return, as well as opened electronics and made-to-order items.

But, this doesn't apply to faulty items, and the Consumer Rights Act also gives you legal rights if the item you buy is:

• Broken or damaged (or, as Citizen's Advice says, not satisfactory quality);
• Unusable or not fit for purpose;
• Not what was advertised or does not match the seller's description.

You have a legal right to return your faulty item within 30 days of receiving it, regardless of what the store says. In the instance of clothing, you would need to show the item was not fit for purpose.

In this case, you would need to argue a "luxury" blazer should not show such signs of bobbling after such a short time and therefore was not of satisfactory quality. The Maebe website says items are "high-quality pieces designed for daily wear", so you would need to show the item you received did not live up to this promise.

However, you don't have any legal rights if you have accidentally damaged the item.

A survey shows a majority of beer drinkers feel "misled" by global corporations into thinking formerly independent brands are still small standalone breweries.

It's all because of the "craft beer revolution", which in the last decade has seen the UK's taste for varied styles like IPAs and stouts grow.

Multinationals have then bought up successful brands, such as Beavertown (Heineken), Fullers (Asahi) and Camden (Anheuser-Busch InBev), and kept the "craft beer" tag.

A YouGov survey, commissioned by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (Siba), asked consumers whether they thought 10 beer brands were "independent craft breweries".

It found 40% thought that Neck Oil, brewed by Heineken's Beavertown, was independent, higher than genuinely standalone brewers such as Five Points and Vocation.

More than 75% of respondents said they felt consumers were being "misled" by big corperations, leading to growing concern that the UK's hard-earned reputation for craft beer is being diluted.

Siba are running a campaign to adopt the term "indie beer" for small brewers, with members needing to be British, not owned by another brewer and account for less than 1% of UK beer production.

Water companies across England and Wales are asking for bills to be made even higher than they first requested, with one company seeking an 84% hike.

The biggest water company in the UK, Thames Water, is now looking for bills to rise 53% by 2029-30, according to figures published by water regulator Ofwat.

The biggest rise - 84% - is sought by Southern Water.

Of all English and Welsh water firms only one utility, Wessex Water, is not seeking even higher bills than they first requested from the regulator in July.

Ofwat will make its final decision for how much water bills can rise on 19 December.

Read the latest on this breaking news story frombusiness reporterSarah Taaffe-Maguirehere...

We already knew about the government's black hole in the public finances - that there's a £22bn gulf between promised spending and the amount the state takes in - but we now know that debt in September was the third highest on record.

The UK stock market is down following the announcement - the benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.41% while the more UK-focused and larger FTSE 250 was down 0.28%. One of the biggest fallers of the FTSE 100 was Frasers after bag-maker Mulberry said it had rejected its takeover offer.

Today motoring and cycling retailer Halfords said its financial outlook was "uncertain" despite "pockets of improving consumer sentiment". This was particularly the case for big-ticket and discretionary purchases, the company said.

The pound remains strong, however, and buys $1.30 and €1.20. Oil prices remained at a £73.81 low.

Wine drinkers are being warned of price rises when a new tax regime is introduced in February.

Retailers including Majestic, Laithwaites, The Wine Society and Cambridge Wine Merchants are among those with a poster campaign warning of the hikes.

The change begins on 1 February.

How it currently works

Excise duty is currently the same, £2.67, on all wines between 11.5% abv and 14.5% abv. This so-called easement was introduced as part of Rishi Sunak's new duty system last year - but it was always due to end on 1 February.

How will it work from then?

The easement will be replaced with up to 30 different payable amounts according to the strength of the wine.

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association says that for a bottle of wine at 14.5% abv this will see wine duty increase from £2.67 a bottle to £3.09.

The association says the new government "has the opportunity to commit to keeping the easement at the budget on 30 October".

There has been no indication yet Labour is prepared to meet this demand.

A letter to customers

In an email to customers earlier this month, Majestic and Cambridge Wine Merchants warned: "At the time they launched the policy, the Treasury had a stated aim to create a duty system that would be simpler and fairer for wine businesses like ours to administer.

"Yet, as an industry, we firmly believe the system that is set to be introduced fails on both counts – it is more complex and will be much more costly. Businesses like ours will need to invest six-figure sums just to develop the systems required to handle the new approach, with ongoing administrative costs likely to run into similar sums on an annual basis."

The letter goes on: "Most concerningly for you as discerning wine drinkers, the quality and choice of wine available for you to purchase is likely to be negatively impacted.

"There is a genuine risk that the producers of your favourite wine will stop shipping it to the UK entirely, due to the additional administrative burden that will be involved in exporting wine to Britain."

Supporting a football team has never been so lucrative. Fan channels have developed into a big business - and it doesn't get bigger than AFTV.

They have millions of followers for their streams, YouTube videos, social clips and podcasts about Arsenal Football Club, turning watching football into a full-time job.

Sky's series New Money takes a look inside new digital industries, speaking to some of the influencers, content creators and business owners who have turned their hobbies into full-time jobs.

On this episode we spend the day with AFTV and DR Sports founder Robbie Lyle, to find out how the fan channel industry works, and how his companies make money.