![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/141497023-scaled-1-e1716987946916.jpg\")
\t\tBusiness owners said the inheritance tax changes will stunt investment\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tTuesday 07 April 2026 5:00 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tTuesday 07 April 2026 8:46 am\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tBusiness owners said the inheritance tax changes will stunt investment\t<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s contentious inheritance tax crackdown on family firms will lead to the break-up of thousands of beloved British businesses and is already stifling investment, a group of influential bosses have warned.<\/p>\n
The Treasury\u2019s plans to end a decades-old carve out from death duty for family-run firms came into force on Monday, meaning offspring of a business owner will now face a 20 per cent tax bill on any stake in the business they inherit.<\/p>\n
The clamp down, which was first announced at the government\u2019s maiden Budget in 2024 alongside a similar reform to the farming industry, has triggered a years-long backlash, with business owners warning it will force their company to be broken up without complex tax planning. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost businesses will end up having to be sold,\u201d drinks tycoon Steve Perez, the founder of VK-owner Global Brands, told City AM. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been properly thought through\u00a0\u2013 nor have we been properly consulted with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Showering, the founder of Showerings Cider, said: \u201cI appreciate the government\u2019s need to raise funds, but this tax interferes with the day to day operational decision-making of family businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a tax liability of several million pounds arises after the death of a founder or shareholder the next generation will only have a few choices \u2013 borrow heavily, sell assets, or sell the business outright.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair\u2019s remarks echo earlier comments made by James Dyson, the billionaire entrepreneur who warned that his eponymous engineering firm would \u201cstop being Dyson\u201d unless the ministers abandon the plans. Rocco Forte Hotels founder Sir Rocco Forte<\/a> has also said his luxury hospitality empire would need to be broken up to foot the tax bill were he to die suddenly.<\/p>\n Inheritance tax overhaul already killing off investment<\/p>\n The warnings come despite ministers watering down the original crackdown in January, raising the threshold at which inheritance tax kicked in from \u00a31m to \u00a32.5m.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tFamily-run construction firms pushed \u2018to brink\u2019 by inheritance tax<\/a><\/p>\n But William Lees-Jones, managing director at JW Lees Brewery<\/a>, said the higher thresholds will do little to prevent larger family firms from being forced to sell-off some or all of their business.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to sound sort of trite, but \u00a32.5m doesn\u2019t even buy you a decent pub,\u201d he told City AM. \u201cYou sort of scratch your head and think, \u2018Why would the government want to bring taxation in that basically disadvantages UK businesses against overseas ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite only coming into force on Monday, the crackdown has already led some business owners to cancel planned investment decisions in a bid to keep a lid on the overall valuation of their firm.<\/p>\n Global Brands\u2019 Perez said: \u201cI\u2019ve had to cut back investing in a new factory. I\u2019ve had to pull investment in hotel and spa that already had planning permission, because all it will mean is my family will have a bigger tax bill.\u201d<\/p>\n