Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2023 #191Mrs Raboni, a widow, owned a freehold house in which she resided. As her health worsened, a friend, Mr Boggia, helped her and began to spend nights at the property. On 2 October 2004, Mrs Raboni passed away. Her will provided that her five nieces and nephews were the beneficiaries of her estate and that Mr Boggia was permitted to reside in the property during his lifetime without charge. It was not disputed that Mr Boggia resided in the property after Mrs Raboni’s death. The residuary beneficiaries were advised that there were insufficient funds in the estate to pay IHT unless the proper...
The nexus between pension transfers and IHT is not straightforward. Duncan Bailey and Imogen Trafford report on Commissioners for HMRC v Parry, which provides welcome guidance Mrs S’s omission was the operative cause of the increase in the sons’ estates and therefore under s3(3) inheritance tax was chargeable. The Supreme Court has ruled on a …
Continue reading "IHT: Unintended consequences"
This post is only available to members.
Luke Busbridge outlines a case that provides a reminder of the rules on reservation of benefit ‘The executors argued that because the covenants given in the sub-lease were intrinsically bound up in Lady Hood’s gift in the first place, it was impossible to separate them out in the way that HMRC had done.’ Viscount Hood …
Continue reading "IHT: Hoodwinked?"
This post is only available to members.
Nicholas Harries and Charlotte Kynaston explore draft inheritance tax legislation on additions to settlements and transfers between settlements ‘The facts of the Dreelan case were unusual, but the key message was that non-UK property transferred between settlements could retain its excluded property status, even if the settlor was UK domiciled or deemed domiciled at the …
Continue reading "IHT: Track changes"
This post is only available to members.
The Office of Tax Simplification has published the first part of its report into IHT. Sarah Murphy discusses ‘These observations drawn from the OTS review certainly seek to move the system into a position whereby it is future proofing its relevant application.’ In January 2018 the Chancellor asked the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to …
Continue reading "IHT: Bringing tax into the digital age"
This post is only available to members.
Tim Harrison analyses recent research into the workings of IHT and examines the future agenda for reform ‘Testators and beneficiaries had quite a limited understanding of inheritance tax. Most were aware of the basic principles of the tax but few knew the details of either the threshold or the spouse exemption.’ On 4 July 2015 …
Continue reading "IHT: Simplification is not a simple process"
This post is only available to members.
Anthony Nixon, Martin Cross and Clementine Burch provide an update on ‘charitable purpose’ outside the UK and the IHT exemption ‘It is clear from other case law that “charitable purposes” could be carried on anywhere in the world, even though this was not stated in the Charities Act 2006.’ The late Beryl Coulter’s executors have …
Continue reading "IHT: Charity begins at home?"
This post is only available to members.
David Rees QC, Eliza Eagling, Bryony Cove and Adam Carvalho discuss a key pensions case which resulted in a taxpayer victory ‘The FTT held that Mrs Staveley’s sole motive in making the transfer was to prevent her ex-husband benefiting on her death by severing all Morayford ties.’The case of HMRC v Parry [2017] related to …
Continue reading "IHT: The importance of motive and intent"
This post is only available to members.
Sadiya Choudhury reviews a case considering the IHT consequences of the transfer of a reversionary interest to an offshore settlement ‘This decision is one of the few examples in which the tribunal or the courts have applied the principles of anti-avoidance as developed in the case law in an IHT context.’In Michael Lawton Salinger and …
Continue reading "IHT: Out of step"
This post is only available to members.
Deborah Pennington and James Bromley give the lowdown on tax changes for private clients ‘The “stealth tax” is not a new tax by itself, but is a package of measures which the government says is intended to curb perceived avoidance of tax by offshore property developers. Broadly, the intention is to ensure profits from such …
Continue reading "Tax Update: Changing landscapes"
This post is only available to members.
