Inheritance Tax & The Family Home
As mentioned last month the Chancellor has confirmed the introduction of an additional inheritance allowance that will be available in addition to the current £325,000 nil rate band which will, when fully phased in, allow a couple to pass on the family home tax free up to a value of £1,000,000.
The additional allowance, which will also be transferrable to the surviving spouse, will start at £100,000 for 2017/18. The allowance will then increase to £125,000 in 2018/19, £150,000 in 2019/20, and £175,000 in 2020/21.
Unfortunately the Chancellor also announced that the inheritance tax nil rate band will be frozen at £325,000 until 6 April 2021.
The main residence nil band is subject to a taper where the amount being left is more than £2,000,000 with £1 of the family home allowance being lost for every £2 of estate value over £2,000,000. T
his clawback is based on the value of the estate before reliefs such as business property relief and agricultural property relief and may result in some additional complications and redrafting of Wills.
If this change is likely to affect your family circumstances you may wish to arrange a meeting with us to consider the impact on your Will and your family’s inheritance tax position.
Changes affecting non-domiciled taxpayers
The Chancellor announced a number of important changes to the tax treatment of individuals who are resident but not domiciled in the UK. Such individuals currently benefit from a number of tax advantages such as exemption from UK inheritance tax (IHT) on assets situated outside the UK and in some cases only being taxed on overseas income and gains if those amounts are remitted to the UK.
From April 2017, IHT will be payable on all UK residential property owned by non-domiciles, regardless of their residence status for tax purposes, including property held indirectly through an offshore structure.
From April 2017, individuals who are born in the UK to parents who are domiciled here, will no longer be able to claim non-domicile status whilst they are resident in the UK.
The government will also legislate so that from April 2017 anybody who has been resident in the UK for more than 15 of the past 20 tax years will be deemed to be domiciled in the UK for all tax purposes. This is being reduced from the current 17 year deemed domicile rule for IHT.
