Talk:Inheritance Tax (United Kingdom)
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As I edit I'll put my rationale in this box. I see that I am opening the discussion and that there have been very few edits. I am an Inheritance Tax specialist by trade so I hope the existing authors will forgive me if I'm quite bold with my edits. I'll also bring this page to the attention of a few people in my field in the hope either that they will become wikipedians, or at least that they might give me feedback outside wikipedia.
I haven't touched the historical details in the first paragraph, but I haven't verified them either. I will look this up if I get a chance.
I didn't feel that the existing statement of what is taxed and what can be deducted was very clear. I thought two consecutive lists was a useful way of approaching that. My lists are not definitive, and I'll compare with one of the textbooks shortly to see if I'm missing anything crucial.
As a solicitor myself I know that the "12 months of probate" paragraph is wrong - it can take 12 months or more but I'm pleased to say I often do it quicker. I removed it entirely on the grounds that I thought it was not 100% on topic, but please restore it if you like & I'll edit around it.
I followed the order of the existing article, but apart from that I completely rewrote the section on avoidance. I am wondering if "avoidance" should perhaps become "mitigation" in the current political climate. On the other hand, I'm concerned about NPOV. The article has to be a factual "some people do this" not an "I advise you to do this to avoid tax" (which is the line I take with my clients, of course).
Incidentally, I've added links where I'm sure there's no article (APR, BPR and so on) on the assumption that someday somebody - probably not me - will realise there is a gap and fill it.
AndyJones 02:14, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Article is out of date
This article needs updating, in the light of the recent Budget (March 2006) in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer attacked trusts, possiby unintentionally. I know the dust hasn't settled yet, but people should be warned that the situation has changed. That's the reason I'm consulting this article, and I'm disappointed that it's not more up to date.
- Good idea in principle. There's no point being disappointed with wikipedia, though: paper encyclopedias don't update this fast either. Those of us who are in the industry have enough work on without people complaining that we haven't got around to this Wikipedia article. Actually, the article as it stands does not cover the IHT treatment of trusts, so having just quickly read it through, I couldn't find a single sentence I wanted to change as a result of the budget, except that "some" perhaps now needs to become "most" in "some gifts of this kind, however, are disadvantageous...". A better plan might be a new page, linked from this one, called Taxation of trusts (United Kingdom) or similar. I'm not promising to find the time to do this in the next few days, though. AndyJones 08:04, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Balance
The article is a little unbalanced in that it includes a criticism section but does not cite any arguments in favour of retaining inheritance tax. These articles [1] [2] by Johann Hari might be worth a look. Quotes: "In reality, only the richest 6 per cent pay inheritance tax", "A bare minimum for qualifying for life on the centre-left is a belief in taxing the unearned privilege of the rich. Why should somebody be handed a house or millions of pounds they have done nothing to earn?" 217.155.20.163 17:44, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Budget
Ive added data from the recent budget report on inheritance tax, but I am not sure how to reference. This is my source: [3] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chickenfeed9 (talk • contribs).
