The personal representatives of the late Rachel Staveley have defeated HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) claims that the deceased’s transfer of funds to a personal pension plan was a transfer of value for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes, and that her omission to take lifetime pension benefits was to be treated as a taxable disposition and transfer of value.
HMRC tried to enforce the IHT charges because Mrs Staveley transferred funds out of one registered pension scheme into another, where she left them untouched until her death in December 2006 (Staveley (Personal Representatives) v HMRC, 2017 UKUT 0004 TCC).