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Office of Tax Simplification asked to look at inheritance tax

31 Aug 2018 Reading time: 1 min

In case you missed it, in January the Chancellor wrote to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) asking it to review the current inheritance tax regime. The OTS had already mentioned it might review inheritance tax when it published its outline of future work back in October.

The OTS was set up by George Osborne in 2010, with a mandate to look for areas where complexities in the tax system might be reduced. Its most recent proposals, published in November 2017, looked at VAT. Now the Chancellor wants the OTS to turn its attention to inheritance tax.

In his letter, Philip Hammond says the OTS review ‘should include a focus on the technical and administrative issues within IHT, such as the process of submitting returns and paying any tax due’.

The Chancellor’s letter also specifically mentions gift rules, and asks the OTS to look at how they interact with the wider inheritance tax regime. This is an acknowledgement that, for some individuals, the impact of gifting on their estate is not always very clear cut.

Indeed, that’s precisely the reason we recently built our gifting calculator, which lets advisers enter details about a client’s estate to see how gifting impacts their overall inheritance tax position.

We do not offer investment or tax advice. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. Issued: February 2018. M2-CAM06513-1802

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