The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published a call for evidence and an online survey to gather information for its review of inheritance tax (IHT), which aims to explore simplification around existing IHT legislation and administrative processes.
Jon Preshaw and Natalie Martin (PwC) identify areas of possible risk.
IHT receipts taken by HMRC have jumped to a record-high of £4.6bn in 2015/16, up 21% from £3.8bn a year earlier, says Wilsons, a private client law firm. The £4.6bn collected by HMRC in the last year is an increase of 70% from 2010/11, when the total amount raised was just £2.7bn.
HMRC is consulting until 16 October 2015 on the detail of proposals to allow individuals downsizing or ceasing to own a home on or after 8 July 2015 to retain the benefit of the new main residence IHT nil-rate band when they pass assets of an equivalent value to direct descendants on death.
Draft regulations published last month could see individuals and their tax advisers having to disclose participation in all but the most basic IHT planning requiring even straightforward arrangements to be disclosed, warns law firm Boodle Hatfield.
HMRC has called for evidence into the use of deeds of variation (DoVs) for tax purposes (see www.bit.ly/1CDySxp).
The government intends to legislate in Finance Bill 2016 to bring forward the point at which individuals are treated as deemed domiciled in the UK for IHT purposes to include where they have been resident in the UK for more than 15 out of the past 20 tax years, with effect from April 2017.
