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.
The Inheritance Tax (Electronic Communications) Regulations, SI 2015/1378, come into force on 6 July 2015 to provide the legal framework for the new inheritance tax online service, including electronic delivery of returns.
The tribunal has decided that a scrip dividend is capital in the hands of trustees, and therefore subject to the IHT exit charge, writes Peter Vaines (Squire Patton Boggs)
Andrew Goldstone and Helen Manis (Mishcon de Reya) review the latest developments that matter in the private client arena