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Summer 2004 Newsletter

Double Joint Account

Inheritance tax is normally paid by the unprepared, rather than by the rich. If you think about it long enough in advance, it's usually possible to avoid a great deal of unnecessary tax by a number of plans that not even the Revenue object to.
So it was sad to see in a recent tax case that a family had realised in good time that they needed to do some IHT planning, but then did it in an ineffective way. The mother knew she should give some money to her daughters and then try to survive seven years - but instead of writing them cheques, she simply put her bank account in joint names with them.

They thought that only a one-third share of the account would be in her estate at death, because there were three joint owners. But the Revenue argued that she had continued to use the account as if it was all her own money, and she had the legal authority to clean the account out right up to her death. In fact, because her daughters also had the same legal authority as signatories on the account, it would have counted in all three estates, which seems unfair but true. So, when the mother died, the whole amount in the bank was taxable - and the good idea all those years before came to nothing.

If you want to arrange your affairs to reduce the exposure to IHT, we will be pleased to advise you on what works, as well as on what doesn't work.