Emma Gadsden: Can IHT be made 'fit for purpose'?

Office for Tax Simplification review

clock • 4 min read

With the Office for Tax Simplification launching a wide-ranging consultation into inheritance tax, Emma Gadsden runs through the various issues likely to be of interest to advisers and their clients

Inheritance tax (IHT) has been around for more than 300 years. In its current form, it replaced the old Capital Transfer Tax, which had been developed with a philosophical basis - to protect the poor by deliberately redistributing inherited wealth through taxation. This January, Chancellor Philip Hammond described the current IHT system as "particularly complex" and asked the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) to review it. In a letter to the OTS, he wrote: "I would be most interested to hear any proposals you may have for simplification, to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and...

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