Well, the lesson of this week in politics must be to expect the unexpected. Or, alternative interpretation, to expect more of the same. The speculation on the future of Inheritance Tax has switched from abolition to a rise in the amount of wealth you can have before the 40% payment hits. My guess is they will be looking for another Home Counties-pleasing headline rather than a £6bn hit to the coffers, and that any give-away will be taken back somewhere less headline-grabbing. But, let’s face it, many of the IHT allowances have not changed since it was introduced in 1986. The big announcement in that Budget was ‘the abolition of Labour’s much-disliked Capital Transfer Tax’. To be replaced by the now equally derided Inheritance Tax. Plus ça change, and tout that.
“HMRC scraps plans to tax pensions after death”
A couple of other Statement Highlights (in my world, anyway). A welcome ‘nothing happened’ on the treatment of pensions on death. They were never going to be liable to IHT (too complicated with trusts and trust law) but there was talk of making them income-taxable on the recipients at whatever age you die.
