Save our family company: Reeves is under fire for an inheritance tax attack aimed at destroying the company

A family business has made a final appeal to the chancellor to stop a costly inheritance tax attack that threatens the future of thousands of companies.

With less than a week to go before the Budget, Rachel Reeves has been asked to halt or scrap planned changes that will see family firms face death duties from April.

And ministers have been accused of refusing to “engage in meaningful consultation” with at-risk companies even if the policy would hurt them.

“You don’t need to find evidence of the achievement of the Government’s budget options,” said Neil Davey, chief executive of lobby group Family Business UK (FBUK).

‘Businesses have lost confidence. They sit on their hands. Growth is weak and the job market is the worst we’ve seen in years.

Rachael Reeves plans to hit family firm with 20% inheritance tax bill.

Writing on the Daily Mail website, he added: ‘For a government that was elected on the promise of delivering growth, you have to wonder why it has chosen to implement policies that actively undermine the ambitions and businesses that will do it?’

Under reforms to so-called Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) announced by Reeves in last year’s Budget, family businesses and farms worth more than £1 million will be hit with 20 per cent inheritance tax from April next year.

The plans have angered farmers, with protesters driving tractors through central London to make their voices heard.

Family businesses are also calling for a rethink amid fears they will have to sell or freeze investments and hires to cover the tax bill.

Research carried out by FBUK shows that the tax raid will cost more than 200,000 jobs and reduce economic activity by £15 billion.

And far from raising £1.4 billion in parliament, as the Treasury claims, the fund will cost £1.9 billion in job losses, according to the group.

The FBUK said the inheritance tax attack was ‘unprecedented’ given the pressures the business world is already facing with 65 per cent of family businesses worried about jobs and raw material costs and 57 per cent worried about higher energy prices.

“We have repeatedly asked the government to engage in meaningful consultation. So far this has been refused,” said Davey.

“In doing so, they are implementing policies that hurt jobs, undermine growth and, as our research shows, will make things worse for the country.

Taking the time to delay and reconsider family business taxes is the right thing to do. It will show that the government is ready to listen and support British family businesses. Next week’s budget will be a good time to do that.

A survey of 2,000 domestic firms carried out this week by WSP lawyers found that 37 per cent believe they are at risk of closing before the general election in 2029, while almost one in ten expect to close in less than 12 months.

Nafeesa Hussain, at WSP Solicitors, said: ‘Family business owners are increasingly asking themselves: “What’s the point of working tirelessly to build a business if there’s nothing left to go on?”

“This is a business built over decades. Changes to inheritance tax have put thousands of people’s futures at risk.”

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