When Jill Lemon’s mother died earlier this year, as well as dealing with the grief, she had to deal with another hurdle – sorting out paying a “wicked” £148,000 tax bill.

Jill, 71, who lives in North Wales, lost her mother Audrey Lemon at the age of 97 in April. Her father Alan had died six years earlier at the age of 94.

When Audrey and Alan bought their house in Oxshott, Surrey, 60 years ago, it cost them just £21,000.

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Now, the four-bedroom property, which has a third of an acre of land and a swimming pool, is valued at £1.2m.

The house, along with Audrey’s other assets, went to Jill and her two brothers – but to their horror, they were landed with a £148,000 inheritance tax bill.

“It is wicked,” said Jill, who is widowed and a mother of three and a grandmother of four.

She said: “Why shouldn’t my mum and dad be able to pass on the money they worked so hard for and made over their lifetime to us? I don’t really need the money as it is not like I’m destitute or anything – but inheritance tax is deeply unfair and I am furious about it.

“I knew we would have to pay something in inheritance tax, but I didn’t realise it was going to be as much as £148,000. It is absolutely disgusting.”

Inheritance tax is charged at 40 per cent of someone’s assets above £325,000 – although there are exemptions and allowances which mean many pay a lot less.

For example, estates which include a family home passed to direct descendants can claim an extra tax-free allowance of £175,000 each – meaning a married couple can potentially leave up to £1m tax-free.

As well as blasting the “cruel” tax, she criticised the process which means payments have to be made before probate is granted, which gives executors the legal authority to access and sell the deceased’s assets including property.

She said this creates a “chicken and egg” situation where funds are needed before they can be legally accessed.

In their own situation, Jill and her brothers were told they had to pay the first installment of inheritance tax, which amounted to £29,000, by 31 October this year.

In her case, an ISA account belonging to her parents was discovered containing £93,000 and they managed to arrange for the building society to pay it directly to HMRC. They will now have to pay the rest once their parent’s house has been sold.

She said: “If it wasn’t for this ISA, I don’t know what we would have done. I don’t have that type of money sitting in the bank and my brothers don’t either. How do they expect people to pay it?

“But you have no choice but to pay it because they won’t give you grant of probate until you have paid that first installment – and you can’t sell the house without grant of probate so it is a catch-22 situation and you are trapped.”

She added: “My dad made a lot of money and he and my mum had a nice lifestyle and travelled and had a good life. But they worked hard for that and paid taxes all their life – so why should they have their assets taxed again after their death?

“What makes me really angry is all this money has already been taxed. You pay tax on everything you buy all your life, you pay tax on your income, tax on your car, tax when you buy your home.”

She almost bemoaned having to go through the process of sorting inheritance tax while grieving.

She said: “It is nasty as you are grieving anyway and suddenly, you have all this paperwork crap to deal with. It is a horrible system and everything about it is awful. I have been in tears trying to do this paperwork and it is stressful and unnecessary.”

She added: “Why should the King and the Royal Family not pay any inheritance tax when we have given them all the money in the first place, but then hard-working families like mine are hit by this horrible tax. It should be illegal.”

Inheritance tax only affects around 4 per cent of estates according to recent figures. However, frozen thresholds and rising property prices means more families will be affected by it every year.

Speculation is also mounting that Rachel Reeves may target the tax again in the Budget. Last year, it was revealed that pension savings will fall into inheritance tax from April 2027, but experts fear more changes may lie ahead.

But some campaign groups are likely to oppose further changes, with John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, saying it should be scrapped altogether.

“There is simply no moral justification for giving the state the power to effectively arbitrarily seize the assets of a parent hoping to pass on their estate to their children or grandchildren,” he said.

Ways to cut your inheritance tax bill

Use your tax-free allowances

When someone dies, they can pass on an estate worth up to £325,000 before any inheritance tax is due.

If they leave their family home to a descendent such as a child or grandchild, they may also qualify for an additional £175,000 allowance known as the residential nil-rate band. This is tapered once the estate exceeds £2m in value.

Married couples and civil partners can combine their nil-rate bands. This means a couple can theoretically pass on an estate worth up to £1m to their children before any inheritance tax is due.

Assets left to a spouse or civil partner are also exempt from inheritance tax.

Gift assets in your lifetime

One way to reduce the inheritance tax burden on your loved ones in the future is to give assets away in your lifetime. However, there are strict rules to make sure people do not use this to evade tax.

Anyone can give up to £3,000 of their assets to loved ones each tax year without it becoming liable for inheritance tax.

As well as this annual £3,000 exemption, you can give as many £250 gifts per person as you want during a tax year, as long as you have not used another exemption on the same person.

If you want to give someone, such as children, a large lump sum such as to help with a house deposit or pay off student debts, this will be exempt from inheritance tax as long as you live for a period of seven years after making the gift.

Consider trusts

Trusts are a way of ring-fencing assets and removing them from your estate to avoid inheritance tax.

Since the Government announced pensions would no longer be inherited inheritance tax-free, trusts are playing a larger role in people’s financial plans, but they are complex and you should seek advice from a financial adviser if you plan to use one.

Donate to charity

There is no inheritance tax to worry about with gifts to charities – and the exemption also applies to registered community amateur sports clubs and institutions such as national museums and universities.