Benjamin Franklin may have been right to say that both death and
taxes were unavoidable, but the future of tax on death is now up in
the air!
The Office of Tax Simplification has been tasked by the
Chancellor with reviewing inheritance tax and is currently
assessing the comments that have been submitted by professionals
and the general public, with a view to publishing its report in the
Autumn. The aim of the review is to simplify the structure of
inheritance tax and to reduce the distorting effect it has on
taxpayers' investment decisions.
The survey sent out by the OTS suggests that they will focus on
whether taxpayers have a good understanding of the rules and their
practical impact. It has been confirmed that radical changes (such
as the abolition of inheritance tax) are outside the scope of the
exercise, despite the fact this was favoured by many early
responders to the survey.
