IHT ruling threatens discretionary trusts 'safety'

The accountancy firms says the decision by Special Commissioner Dr John Avery Jones to reject an appeal against a notice determination by HMRC could mean a “previously “safe” tax planning mechanism for reducing the IHT charged on the family home could be chalked off”. MacIntyre Hudson claims to reduce the IHT liability of a married couple it has been common practice to place the value of the family home into a discretionary trust for the heirs on the first death of the couple - up to the nil-rate band of £300,000 and in the form of an IOU. It says this planning method can save familie...