Brown ignores ever-growing IHT trap issue

With the dust now settled on the Budget there is little doubt that Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was out to tackle tax avoidance. Taking the industry somewhat by surprise was his announcement that there are going to be significant changes to how certain trusts are taxed. However, no-one could have guessed that the discretionary trust regime for inheritance tax would be applied to all trusts. This means transfers into trusts become taxable at 20% above the nil-rate band or 40% on death within seven years. The 10-year anniversary tax and exit charge also applies, currently 6...