Draft regulations published last month could see individuals and their tax advisers having to disclose participation in all but the most basic IHT planning requiring even straightforward arrangements to be disclosed, warns law firm Boodle Hatfield.
The draft regulations state that disclosure will be required of all arrangements the main purpose of which might reasonably be expected to secure an IHT advantage where either the arrangements involve one or more contrived or abnormal steps without which it may not be possible to obtain the IHT advantage, or where a person would be unlikely to enter into one or more elements of the arrangements other than to obtain an IHT advantage.
Geoffrey Todd, a partner in the private client and tax team at Boodle Hatfield said: ‘The latter condition is particularly unclear and potentially very wide. There are specific exceptions, most notably for planning by means of a Will, but these are in contrast fairly narrow. A great range of lifetime IHT planning arrangements could potentially be caught. They have been consulted on before and in response the Government suggested that it would clarify the scope of the draft regulations, but this has not yet happened.’
For draft regulations in full, see www.bit.ly/1RM0ZkF. Consultation closes on 10 September 2015.
Draft regulations published last month could see individuals and their tax advisers having to disclose participation in all but the most basic IHT planning requiring even straightforward arrangements to be disclosed, warns law firm Boodle Hatfield.
The draft regulations state that disclosure will be required of all arrangements the main purpose of which might reasonably be expected to secure an IHT advantage where either the arrangements involve one or more contrived or abnormal steps without which it may not be possible to obtain the IHT advantage, or where a person would be unlikely to enter into one or more elements of the arrangements other than to obtain an IHT advantage.
Geoffrey Todd, a partner in the private client and tax team at Boodle Hatfield said: ‘The latter condition is particularly unclear and potentially very wide. There are specific exceptions, most notably for planning by means of a Will, but these are in contrast fairly narrow. A great range of lifetime IHT planning arrangements could potentially be caught. They have been consulted on before and in response the Government suggested that it would clarify the scope of the draft regulations, but this has not yet happened.’
For draft regulations in full, see www.bit.ly/1RM0ZkF. Consultation closes on 10 September 2015.
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