In The Sunday Times, it is
reported that the Revenue has moved the goalposts on inheritance-tax
plans, leaving families facing big bills.
Taxpayers are up
in arms after discovering that Revenue & Customs
has sneakily changed the rules governing discounted gift trusts,
leaving them with an unexpected bill when their relatives die.
The
Revenue says that people aged 90 or over when they signed
up for a scheme will not receive any discount. If they die
in the next seven years their heirs have to pay IHT on the
full amount in the trust, so there is no tax saving. But
the taxpayers say this is unfair because when they took out
the trust several years ago the Revenue was agreeing to discounts
for people aged up to 100.
One family is preparing to challenge
the Revenue's stance in a test case before a special commissioner.
They will claim that the Revenue moved the goalposts after
their relative took out a discounted gift trust. As a result,
they received an IHT bill that was thousands of pounds greater
than expected.
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