Lifetime Planning

This practice note summarises the development of anti-avoidance case law from WT Ramsay v Inland Revenue Commissioners (1982) 54 TC 101 to date. It also includes some practical tips for structuring transactions to reduce the risk of attack by HMRC based on anti-avoidance case law.

A note introducing bare trusts for children under 18 (minors), setting out how they can be established, their advantages and disadvantages, and how they are taxed.

A practice note explaining the procedure and requirements for an individual (adult and minor) wanting to change his name by deed poll. 

Many circumstances give rise to co-ownership of chattels and thus also to problems between co-owners. This practice note provides an overview of the main issues that arise in practice, including the legal position, whether one owner can force the sale of chattels on other owners and valuation issues. Also provided are tips for avoiding potential disputes.

This practice note gives an overview of direct taxes in the UK tax regime. It covers income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax. It discusses the principles of calculation, rates, payment and compliance, and reliefs (such as capital allowances and research and development (R&D) relief).

A practice note about when HMRC can make corporation tax discovery assessments. The note covers the conditions for making a discovery assessment, careless and deliberate conduct, when information is made available to HMRC, what amounts to a discovery, time limits, Langham v Veltema and SP 1/06.

This practice note lists the double taxation treaties signed by the UK covering inheritance tax, capital transfer tax and estate duty and contains links to those treaties. 

The availability of entrepreneurs' relief has significant implications for individuals and trustees. This practice note explains the key features of entrepreneurs' relief.

This note explains what a family charter is and why it may be useful to have one. It also describes the issues which are normally dealt with in a family charter.

This practice note considers the pensions-related provisions in the Finance Act 2009. The most significant measures related to the then government's plans to restrict pensions tax relief for high-income individuals. These have since been overhauled by the coalition government following the 2010 General Election.

This practice note examines the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) and HMRC's GAAR guidance.

A practice note explaining the limits on benefits that an individual can receive from a charity in connection with a donation under the Gift Aid rules.  It covers valuing benefits, connected persons and the relevant and aggregate value tests.  It also discusses the application of the Gift Aid benefit rules to specific benefits common to the charities sector.  This note is supplemental to Practice note, Gift Aid for individuals, sole traders and partnerships: overview.

This practice note provides links to the most commonly-used inheritance tax (IHT) accounts, forms and guidance.

This note is a general summary of the anti-avoidance rules applying for the purposes of UK income tax and the situations in which one person may be liable for income tax primarily chargeable to another person. It also provides links to notes describing other aspects of the UK income tax rules, such as how income is taxed and exemptions from income tax.

This note is a general summary of exemptions and relief from UK income tax. It also provides links to notes describing other aspects of the UK income tax rules, such as how income is calculated for income tax purposes and how income is taxed.

This note is a general summary of how losses may be used under the UK income tax rules. It also provides links to notes describing other aspects of the UK income tax rules, such as how income is taxed and exemptions from income tax.

This practice note focuses on lifetime gifts of agricultural property, in particular the additional conditions to be met in the event that the donor dies within seven years of the gift, or if the donor reserves a benefit in the agricultural property given away.

This note provides an overview of conditional exemption from inheritance tax for heritage property.

This practice note explains the inheritance tax charges that arise in a relevant property trust. It provides a step-by-step guide to calculating charges and worked examples. It is intended as an introduction for those who are unfamilar with the charge, or as a refresher. NOTE: This resource is being reviewed in light of the 2013 Budget. For more information, see Legal update, 2013 Budget: key private client tax announcements

This practice note explains the effect of the death of the settlor within seven years of the establishment of a relevant property trust on the calculation of inheritance tax (IHT). NOTE: This resource is being reviewed in light of the 2013 Budget. For more information, see Legal update, 2013 Budget: key private client tax announcements

A list of current interest rates that are useful for private client practitioners, with links to earlier rates. It includes interest on pecuniary legacies and the statutory legacy, interest on tax paid late and overpaid, Court Funds Office rates, the Bank of England base rate and the official rate of interest (used to calculate the taxable benefit from beneficial loans and pre-owned assets).

This practice note examines the various tax issues that arise in relation to limited partnerships, including the tax treatment of partners and the tax consequences of changes in limited partnership interests.

This note outlines the rights of parents and individuals with parental responsibility in respect of a child's education. It explains how parental responsibility can arise and the principles to be followed by schools where more than one individual has parental responsibility for a child.

This practice note explains the effect of pension-sharing orders on tax-registered occupational pension arrangements, and considers the steps trustees must take to comply with the legislation.

This practice note examines powers of attorney, in particular, general powers of attorney and their commercial application. It includes links to standard documents for general powers of attorney and specimen execution clauses. For further details on other types of powers of attorney, see Practice note, Lasting powers of attorney and Practice note, Enduring powers of attorney.

This tracker follows the progress of English legislation, EU legislation, and Law Commission and other projects that may lead to legislation of interest to private client practitioners.

A note tracking the progress of the Finance Act 2009 as a whole, and the progress of specific measures that are of interest to private client practitioners from the 2008 Pre-Budget Report, 2009 Budget and Finance Bill 2009 to enactment.

A note tracking the progress of the Finance Bill 2011 as a whole, and the progress of specific measures that are of interest to private client practitioners from the time of announcement in the 2011 Budget or elsewhere to enactment in the Finance Act 2011 or other legislation.

A note tracking the progress of the Finance Bill 2013 as a whole and specific tax measures of interest to private client practitioners.  It will cover developments from August 2012 to July 2013 inclusive, with links to information on earlier and later developments.

This note examines the coalition government's measures to restrict the availability of tax relief on pension saving by reducing the annual and lifetime allowances. As well as looking at the circumstances in which an annual allowance charge is triggered, the note highlights some key practical issues for trustees and employers, including the obligation to provide pension savings statements to members. The note also refers to the announcement of further reductions to the annual and lifetime allowances made at the 2012 Autumn Statement to take effect from the 2014/15 tax year.

A practice note on the meaning of remittance following the changes introduced by the Finance Act 2008. NOTE: This resource is being reviewed in light of the 2013 Budget. For more information, see 2013 Budget: key private client tax announcements.

This practice note considers the anti-forestalling measures implemented by the previous government in the Finance Act 2009 in advance of its abortive plans to restrict tax relief on pension saving for high-income individuals. The anti-forestalling measures only applied to pensions tax relief claimed in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 tax years.

This practice note explains when a stock transfer form is required, and provides details on how to complete the form. For a stock transfer form that can be edited and saved to your desktop, please see Standard document, Stock transfer form.

A practice note summarising the tax consultations, consultation responses and draft legislation published before the end of 2010.

A note containing tables of CGT rates, main exemptions and reliefs, deadlines for returns and payments, and time limits for assessments and claims, with links to interest rates on CGT paid late and overpaid CGT, and to more detailed information about CGT.

A note containing tables of subscription limits that apply to individual savings accounts (ISAs) for tax purposes and information about junior ISAs, with links to more detailed information about ISAs.

A note containing tables of limits that apply to registered pension schemes for tax purposes (annual contributions, annual and lifetime allowances, and former requirement to buy an annuity at 75), with links to more detailed information about tax on pensions.

A document tracking the development of certain notable pieces of proposed new legislation relating to tax compliance, disputes and investigations.

A document tracking the development of certain notable pieces of proposed new miscellaneous legislation relating to tax.

A document tracking the development of certain notable pieces of proposed new legislation relating to property, energy and environment taxation.

This is one of a series of notes on tax penalties. It gives details of the penalty regime for inaccuracies in documents submitted to HMRC which applies for periods commencing on or after 1 April 2008 for which a return must be filed on or after 1 April 2009. It also explains the consolidated penalty regime for failure to notify chargeability to tax and for unauthorised issue of a VAT invoice which applies from 1 April 2010. For an introduction to tax penalties generally, see Practice note, Tax penalties: overview.

A note on a scheme providing a tax reduction to taxpayers who donate pre-eminent objects to the nation during their lifetime. It explains how the tax reduction works and how it interacts with other tax incentives. 

This note considers how the concept of legitimate expectation may apply in the taxation context.  

A practice note on the election that trustees of offshore trustees can make to limit the capital gains tax exposure of non-UK domiciled beneficiaries in respect of pre-6 April 2008 asset growth under paragraph 126 of Schedule 7 to the Finance Act 2008. NOTE: This resource is being reviewed in light of the 2013 Budget. For more information, see 2013 Budget: key private client tax announcements.

This note provides an overview of the UK/Switzerland tax co-operation agreement to tackle tax evasion by UK taxpayers holding funds in Swiss bank accounts. The agreement came into force on 1 January 2013. The note discusses the anonymous one-off payment to settle past tax liabilities, the withholding tax on income and capital gains going forward and the one-off withholding tax on death. It also looks at the requirements for disclosure as an alternative to these deductions, further protection in the agreement for HMRC (such as information requests) and options for UK residents with Swiss bank accounts. We would welcome subscribers' views on the practical implications of the agreement (see Your views). Note: this resource is being reviewed in the light of the 2013 Budget. For more information, see Legal update, 2013 Budget: key private client tax announcements.

A note covering the key issues relating to a waiver of a dividend, including the requirements for a deed of waiver. It also discusses income tax and inheritance tax considerations, including the possible application of the settlements legislation in Chapter 5 of Part 5 of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005.   

Survivorship clauses are often used in wills, but they are not always appropriate and can sometimes cause inheritance tax disadvantages. This note considers why survivorship clauses are used, the tax implications of doing so and how they interact with the statutory provisions of the commorientes rule.