Individuals may consider giving away valuable assets to family
members for various personal reasons, but one of the most logical
reasons (at least, for UK domiciled and deemed domiciled
individuals) is that doing so reduces the value of an
individual's assets that are subject to taxation when they
die, and reducing that charge to inheritance tax means more to give
to chosen beneficiaries. The timing and mechanism of making gifts
may be impacted by the nature of the asset and the individuals in
question, but also the commercial circumstances.
Depressed asset values could be a good reason to triggering
(less) tax now
Right now, the stock market turmoil in the wake of the spread of
COVID-19 has, for some individuals provided new impetus for making
gifts of assets whose values have significantly fallen