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by Answers101 on March 15th, 2006

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Why are death taxes so exorbitant in the United Kingdom?

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  • by Answers101 on March 19th, 2006

    Answers101

    Death taxes, or rather "Death Duties" were introduced to the UK as early as 1796 and were extremely effective in causing the nobility and most likely the gentry as well to lose their massive estates as late as 1894 to the present-time.

    As Wikipedia explains further about death taxes, which are also called inheritance taxes:

    "In the United Kingdom, Death Duty was first introduced as a tax on estates in England and Wales over a certain value from 1796, then called legacy, succession and estate duties. The value changed over time and the scope of estate duty was extended. By 1857 estates worth over £20 were taxable but duty was rarely collected on estates valued under £1500. Death duties were introduced in 1894, and for the next century were particularly effective in destroying large estates.

    Estate duty was replaced in 1975 by Capital Transfer Tax, which was replaced by Inheritance Tax (IHT) in 1986. Partly due to the simple and widely-used methods which are available to avoid it, Inheritance Tax is a small, but by no means insignificant, revenue generator for the UK government, raising around £2,000,000,000 in 2001.

    For the 6 April 2005 to 5 April 2006 tax year, the IHT rate is 40% on the value, at death, of an individual's tax estate over £275,000. This figure is known as the nil rate band, and rises annually.

    The tax estate includes:

    all of the deceased's assets, whether real estate or personal estate, and includes even small-value items such as the contents of his or her home;
    any gifts (including settlements onto a trust) made in the seven years before death (see PET below);
    some assets which were not owned by the deceased but which are affected by the death (the most common example is a life interest in a trust, technically known as an interest-in-possession);
    gifts with reservation of benefit (explained below).
    There are deductions for:

    all assets left to a spouse;
    all assets left to a charity;
    some political donations;
    some business assets (under Business Property Relief or "BPR")
    some farmland (under Agricultural Property Relief or "APR")
    In order to avoid IHT, many people in the IHT bracket practice some or all of the following avoidance measures:

    Outright gifts made during a person's lifetime are known as "potentially exempt transfers" or PETs. They are taxable if the person dies within seven years, but have the potential to become exempt from tax once seven years have gone by with the giver still alive. If the giver survives three years, the value of the PETs that is taxable reduces by 20%, and then by a further 20% of the original value on each of the subsequent anniversaries, reaching 0% after seven years. This a from of taper relief. Since the original PET value takes precedence over any other asset in making up the nil rate band, the relief is only effective with gifts in excess of this amount. For example, a PET of £575,000 when the nil rate band is £275,000 would see a reduction in taxable value of £60,000 (20% of £300,000) every anniversary between the third and sixth. The whole gift becomes entirely exempt from tax seven years after it was made
    Gifting assets to a trust fund before death. (Some gifts of this kind, however, are disadvantageous as they amount to lifetime chargeable transfers on which IHT is paid straight away.)
    Charitable giving, which is IHT exempt.
    Lifetime gifts within certain limits are completely exempt. These include any number of "small gifts" (up to £250), an annual amount of £3,000, all regular gifts from surplus income, and some wedding gifts.
    Upon death, passing non-taxable assets to the next generation (or to a discretionary trust for the benefit of the whole family) and therefore NOT to the spouse. To many people this seems counter-intuitive because they are aware that gifts to a spouse are IHT exempt and should therefore be maximised. However, if something is non-taxable on the first death it should not go to the spouse as it will merely increase his or her tax estate upon his or her later death. (The nil-band discretionary trust, discussed below, is an example of this principle in action.)
    A person who has a tax estate less than the nil rate band may consider himself or herself outside the IHT bracket. However a couple with estates of less than double the nil rate band cannot consider themselves outside the IHT bracket unless they have taken specific action to ensure they use both nil rate bands. If they do the natural thing - the first of them to die leaving everything to the survivor - then they have effectively wasted that first nil rate band. The survivor will die owning everything, with only his or her one nil rate band to set against it.

    The most common means of ensuring that both nil rate bands are used is called a nil band discretionary trust. This is an arrangement in both wills which says that whoever is the first to die leaves their nil band to a discretionary trust for the family, and not to the survivor. The survivor can still benefit from those assets if needed, but they are not part of that survivor's tax estate.

    For the above to work it is important that each partner has sufficient assets in their own name to cover the nil-band. If assets are all in one name, or in joint names, the arrangement may not work. This is often described, slightly inaccurately, as "equalisation".

    A gift is not valid for IHT purposes if the giver retains any benefit from it. There are quite complex and rigid rules which establish whether the giver has retained a benefit, and where there is a retention of benefit all IHT advantages from the gift are effectively lost.

    The 2004 Finance Act introduced an income tax regime known as pre-owned asset tax which aims to reduce the use of common methods of IHT avoidance."

    source: http://www.wikipedia.com

    Another excellent source, which discusses the "Death Duty," in more detail is HM Revenue and Customs official website:

    http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/

    I hope this helps!

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