Inheritance Tax and Employee Benefit Trusts: HMRC Brief 49/09 replaced with Brief 61/09
November 9th 2009
Revenue & Customs Brief 49/09, which outlines HMRC’s current view of the Inheritance Tax position in relation to contributions to an Employee Benefit Trust, has been replaced by Revenue & Customs Brief 61/09.
The content of the two Briefs would appear to be virtually identical apart from the fact that a footnote has been added to the later Brief giving equivalent references to sections of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 for accounting periods ending on or after 1 April 2009 and to sections of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 for tax years 2005-06 onwards.
The Briefs confirm the approach HMRC have taken for some time which is that HMRC contend that payments by a close company may bring about a lifetime IHT charge on the participators.
The Brief can be accessed at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/inheritance-tax/brief6109.htm
We do not share HMRC’s views on this and believe that HMRC would not be successful in their arguments on this matter.
For a more detailed discussion on this and on other tax planning advice please contact Paul Merrell on
