20 November 2007

When did Alistair Darling first consider doubling the Inheritance Tax threshold?

There has been much speculation that Alistair Darling doubled the inheritance tax threshold for married people to £600,000 in his first Pre-Budget Report, in response to George Osbourne's proposal to increase the threshold to £1m, which he announced at the Tory Party Conference just a week before.

In an attempt to clarify the matter a request has been made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for any information showing when the proposals were first considered and when papers were first submitted on the proposal.

Although the Treasury have said that it will cost too much money to look at the matter prior to 2007, they do have records of officials considering the proposal on 9 January 2007 and advice on the measure was sent to Treasury Ministers, as pre-Budget advice on 6 March 2007. In respect of the current Chancellor, following his appointment, he was sent the above advice on 27 July 2007 and he has confirmed that the measure was under discussion for inclusion in the Pre-Budget Report on 20 August 2007.

This information appears to support many commentators' views that introducing such a change to the contents of the Pre-Budget Report with less than a week to go would have been highly unlikely.

If you would like further advice on any aspect of IHT or the implications of the Pre-Budget Report please contact your usual Hazlewoods contact or Helen Richmond hr@hazlewoods.co.uk.