Tax case expected to have implications for 'thousands of couples'

The Phizackerley case involved a married couple who held shares in their home as tenants-in-common. When Mrs Phizackerley died, her £150,000 half share in the home passed into a discretionary trust, taking advantage of the nil rate IHT allowance, and enabling her husband, who has since passed away, to continue living in the property. The case centred on the family’s belief that it would not have to pay tax on the wife’s half of the property. But the Special Commissioners ruled the children would have to pay tax at 40%. They decided that because Mrs Phizackerley had not worked, she had not ...