Is Your Will Good Enough?: 1975 Act Claims Against Estates by Adult Children
In recent years claims bought by adult children have seen varying levels of success (the door having been opened by the case of Illot v Mitson [2017]). However, the reality is that claims by adult children under the 1975 Act…
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Inheritance Tax & Covid-19
Welcome to February! According to the latest HMRC figures published, inheritance tax receipts hit a five-year high in the final quarter of 2020. Receipts steadily rose from August onwards and peaked at a five-year high in October 2020. While this…
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Tax Schemes & ‘Tales of the Unexpected’
There were reputedly 30,000 “home loan” or “double trust” schemes implemented in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and as people die these schemes have been increasingly challenged by HMRC since about 2011. The ‘home loan’ arrangement in the case…
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Scottish holiday accommodation loses BPR despite service provision
A legatee who inherited her father’s furnished holiday accommodation business failed to persuade the First-tier Tax Tribunal that it was ‘relevant business property’ for the purposes of business property relief under the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA). The property was…
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Trustees Granted Additional Powers For Inheritance Tax Planning
The High Court has agreed to grant additional powers to the trustees of a family settlement for the purposes of Inheritance Tax planning in the case of Cotterell & Anor v Allendale & Anor [2020] EWHC 2234. Trustee Act 1925 s…
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Inheritance Tax, Crucial Reliefs & Covid 19
Many thousands of people in the UK have lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic and about 5% of those deaths will probably result in an inheritance tax charge. Inheritance tax is charged on the estate of a deceased…
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Time to Secure Crucial Business Reliefs before they Fade Away?
Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief are both ways of passing on assets without needing to pay Inheritance Tax. The reliefs can currently achieve up to a 100% tax saving, meaning assets that fall into these categories – such…
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What issues does Covid-19 raise for Estate Planning in 2020?
Massive public spending during the Covid-19 crisis means the government will almost certainly increase taxes in the short to medium term. Additional austerity seems implausible and government borrowing is already stretched. The government will be emboldened in its revenue-raising task…
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Covid 19 & Tax Planning
By the time we emerge from the Covid 19 crisis the UK will be vastly more indebted. Households, companies and the state will be carrying much more debt and be much more risk averse. The Bank of America believes the…
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Inheritance Tax and the 2020 Budget
After several months of noise regarding changes to inheritance tax Rishi Sunak’s budget avoided even tentative adjustments to the tax altogether. Headline predictions included a reduction of the rate from 40% to 10%, removal of lifetime gifting allowances, and the…
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