Martin Lewis has issued a warning over inheritance tax ahead of a rumoured shake-up in the Budget this week. The Autumn Statement will be delivered on Wednesday - and Mr Lewis, the ITV This Morning and Good Morning Britain star, has previewed one of the biggest talking points.

Mr Lewis tweeted: "Many are confused about it, so here's my mini briefing on #InheritanceTax in five simple steps (obvious do more reading/get advice before acting). Feel free to share. Anything left to a spouse (married/civil partners) is EXEMPT from IHT - You don't pay IHT on the first £325,000 of your estate left to others.

"This is boosted to £500,000 if you pass on your main residence to your (biological/foster/step/adopted) children or grandchildren. - You can pass on any unused allowance to your spouse, so if you left them everything they could then leave £1m (your £500,000 and their £500,000) including their home to children or grandchildren.

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"If an IHT bill is looking likely, gifting rules can cut or cancel it out (whether from annual income or bigger gifts if you live long enough after)." In reply to Mr Lewis' Twitter/X post, fans of the BBC Sounds podcast host responded to his words via the social media platform.

Fiona said: "Tough on those of us who are single & childless. Nothing new in that, however." Richard Marks replied: "The average sold price for a property in London in the last 12 months is £731,432, according to Zoopla." Iron fumed: "This tax absolutely does not need to be lowered, those luckily enough to get it should hardly be crying that they only received for example £1million and not £1.4million because of a tax. I’d rather them pay it then it comes from the everyday workers wages!"

Ilson said: "So inheritance tax will only benefit those who are mega millionaires. So this tax cut is pointless to the normal person. The higher tax rate threshold needs to rise from £49k to £60k and the tax below needs to drop too. Being taxed highest in 70 years."