Clampdown on IHT 'full of holes'
The ICAEW has called on the government to scrap its clampdown on inheritance tax avoidance, as set out in the Budget, claiming it is fraught with problems and full of holes.
Link: Mitigating the burden of inheritance tax
The clampdown aims to stop the practice of people who give away assets but still enjoy the benefits of these assets, and in this way avoiding paying inheritance tax.
Anita Monteith, tax consultant at the ICAEW, told the FT that there were problems in the legislation because of omissions, technical problems with the legislation and because some of it is wrong.
‘The government’s motivation is to catch people who are trying to avoid paying IHT. Rather than addressing that, they have dreamed up an even more complicated scheme with holes in it.
‘They should scrap the whole idea and come up with targeted legislation.’