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

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...