Institute tells House of Lords inquiry on Finance Bill that IHT reliefs changes need to be reframed or Northern Ireland excluded

The Institute recently responded to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee inquiry into ‘Draft Finance Bill 2025-26’ which closed last week. The submission focused solely on the draft Finance Bill clauses which will restrict the scope of agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) from April 2026 and the disproportionate economic impact of these, especially in Northern Ireland (NI). The Institute is calling again for the Government to reframe this draft legislation ahead of April 2026, or alternatively, that the Government exclude NI from these changes. The Institute is scheduled to deliver oral evidence to this Committee in the Palace of Westminster next Monday 20 October. Our full response to this call for evidence will be published in due course in the Tax Representations section of our website, once the Committee has published its final report.

The Institute’s response follows on from ongoing lobbying earlier this year when we wrote to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and responded to the related consultation.

You can read more about the Institute’s work in this space since the Autumn Budget 2024 announced these changes via various stories in Chartered Accountants Tax News at the following links:

• https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-meets-hmrc-to-discuss-the-autumn-budget-2024,
• https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-tells-government-to-reframe-its-proposed-policy-changes-on-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief,
• https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/treasury-responds-to-institute-on-inheritance-tax-reliefs,
• https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/l-day-confirms-changes-to-key-inheritance-tax-reliefs-will-proceed-as-planned, and
• https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-meets-with-local-government-to-discuss-april-2026-restrictions-to-iht-reliefs.