Chancellor George Osborne has set out changes to cut the 55% ‘death tax’ charge on pension savings. From April 2015, beneficiaries of those with a drawdown arrangement who die before age 75 will be entitled to receive the deceased member’s pension pot as a tax free lump sum.
IHT on gift to charity
Claims by executors
The Law Society has published its responses to HMRC’s consultation on trust IHT charges, giving a qualified welcome to the proposed ‘settlement nil-rate band’, but recommending a method by which trustees can use any unallocated portion. Further recommendations include:
Jackie Wheaton answers a query on the inheritance tax implications of a dividend waiver
IHT unpaid by trustee
Elizabeth Neale examines how fair the proposed ‘fairer way’ of calculating trusts’ IHT charges is
Andrew Goldstone and Victoria Howarth review recent developments, including changes to intestacy rules, relevant HMRC consultations, the Cooke case and recently signed tax information exchange agreements
According to the Telegraph (14 June), the number of families hit with inheritance tax bills will rise by one third this year, according to figures that show the full extent of Britain’s death tax time bomb.
HMRC has previously published two consultation documents setting out proposals on how the IHT treatment of relevant property trust charges could be simplified.