Proposal to cut IHT gifting rule to five years 'a bald tax grab'

Taper scrap also proposed

Hannah Godfrey
clock • 2 min read

Government proposals to cut the seven-year gifting rules on inheritance tax down to five looks like a "bald tax grab and revenue-raising move", AJ Bell personal finance analyst Laura Suter has said.

In its Inheritance Tax Review - second report, the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has suggested the seven-year period during which a lifetime gift may become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) is too long. Instead, the OTS said the period should be reduced to five years, so that gifts to individuals made more than five years before death are exempt from IHT. The government argued it could be difficult to obtain records going back as far as seven years, and the latter part of the current period raised little tax. 'Hideously complex' Additionally, the OTS said taper relief should...

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