UK adults will waste almost £9.3 billion in unnecessary tax in 2008, according to the latest TaxAction report from unbiased.co.uk.

The report, now in its sixteenth year, shows that the amount wasted in legitimately avoidable tax payments will increase by almost £1.4 billion compared to 2007.

More alarmingly, 82 per cent of UK investors admit to doing nothing to reduce their overall tax burden.

Despite being the most resented, inheritance tax (IHT) is set to rise by over £360 million this year to a predicted total waste of over £1.9 billion.

A further £474 million will be wasted on personal tax allowances.

David Elms, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, says, ‘UK taxpayers are wasting record sums in unnecessary tax payments and our report shows that 2008 will be no different. We estimate that each UK tax payer will waste an average of over £290 in tax payments this year.

‘We have seen a lot of talk about stealth taxes and IHT but our figures prove that it hasn’t changed the way people deal with this tax and too much money is still being wasted and practically gifted to the taxman.’