IHT War Exemption Is Ignored By The Treasury
Over the last few years we have seen a number of military conflicts around the world as well as a slow decline in the number of veterans from the first and second world wars. It has recently come to light that under the small print of the inheritance tax laws a service person that dies because of an illness caused during active duty shall have their estate exempted from IHT on death – even if the death of the person is literally decades after the event.
The last few months have seen a number of relatives coming forward to question the IHT situation for a group of war veterans. Despite many of these veterans dying as a consequence of medical conditions picked up during the earlier world wars, the Treasury have still stepped in to take their full IHT share – in direct contradiction to the IHT regulations.
While many of these cases are indefensible, with a number able to back up their claims with medical advice and opinion, the Treasury seem to be dragging their heels with regards to repayment of the IHT. There is a ground swell of support for the families of these war veterans and an anger that the government seem to be overlooking the military situation once again.
Share this..
Related stories
UK government income tax rates amongst highest in Europe
While the top rate of income tax in the UK at the moment is 40%, placing the UK 12th out of 27 EU countries, next year will see the top rate increased to 50% taking the UK up to 4th spot. Only Denmark (62.3%), Sweden (56.7%) and the Netherlands (52%) charge higher income taxes than the UK. This comes at a time when the average top income tax rate in Europe has fallen from 41.1% in 2003 to 36% in 2...
Read MoreRoyal Bank of Scotland faces £500 million loss on Cattles
As we have covered on a number of occasions over the past few weeks, Cattles, the doorstep lender, has hit serious financial trouble. Despite a fairly upbeat start to the UK recession the business has suffered from a chronic increase in clients defaulting and the company's inability to obtain a banking licence from the UK authorities. The ability to hold customer funds on deposit would have allowe...
Read MoreKingfisher forced to issue indicative trading report
The UK retail giant Kingfisher, which owns DIY chain B&Q, was today forced to release a highly unusual indicative trading update to the city. This came about after the head of the company's investor relations division accidentally e-mailed a spreadsheet to a number of city analysts which detailed the forthcoming figures. So what exactly happened?
In a fairly run-of-the-mill investor...
Savings rate for retirement falls amongst women
Scottish Widows has today introduced a survey into the pensions and savings market which suggests that more and more working women are failing to put aside sufficient savings for their retirement. Despite the fact that there has been a rise in the number of people putting money aside for their retirement, from 51% in 2008 to 54% this year, the split between men and women is not equal.
Read More
British Gas and E.ON reduce energy tariffs
As energy prices continue to fluctuate in the UK, today saw British Gas and E.ON reduce their dual tariffs to under £1000 a year. As soon as the British Gas Web Saver 4 tariff was released, E.ON introduced its own FixOnline 3 which is £10 cheaper at £984 a year.
The E.ON tariff also enables customers to fix their prices until 1 December 2010 which on the surface seems very attrac...