The son and executor of Anantrai Maneklal Shah (the deceased) recently lost his claim that the deceased was not domiciled in England and Wales at the time of his death because he had expressed his intention to retire to Bangalore.
The First-tier Tax Tribunal duly upheld HMRC’s notice of determination under IHTA 1984 s.221. It noted that the deceased had acquired UK citizenship and given up his Indian citizenship in 1961, where he had lived since 1973 although he had obtained overseas citizenship status from India in 2014. The FTT concluded that he intended to remain in England and Wales permanently such that he had acquired a domicile of choice in England and Wales and had not abandoned that domicile of choice before his death [Shah v HMRC, 2023 UKFTT 00539 TC].
Have a look at the circumstances of the case which includes a concise summary of the considerable case law in the area.
There are no statutory provisions that deal with the circumstances in which a person acquires a domicile of choice and so this is an area in which great care should be exercised when planning for inheritance tax.
https://financeandtax.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j12757/TC%2008842.pdf
Stephen Parnham
July 2023
