In HMRC v Parry and others [2020] UKSC 35 (19 August 2020) the Supreme Court has partially allowed an appeal holding that Mrs Staveley’s omission to draw any benefits from the pension plan before her death gave rise to a charge to IHT but the transfer of funds from the pension scheme into the personal pension plan did not.
Mrs Staveley and her husband had set up a company while they were married and Mrs Staveley had a pension fund with the company’s occupational scheme. Following their divorce this fund was transferred to another pension scheme for Mrs Staveley. Shortly before Mrs Staveley’s death in December 2006 she transferred funds from the pension scheme into a personal pension plan (PPP) as she did not want her ex-husband to benefit from any surplus in the fund which would return to the company.
Throughout...
