IHT transfers of value

The ‘chargeable transfer’ is the tax base for inheritance tax. If there is no chargeable transfer, there is no IHT charged. ‘Chargeable transfer’ is, however, a convenient shorthand for ‘chargeable transfer of value’. While it is convenient to abbreviate ‘transfer of value’, to ‘transfer’, the Special Commissioners’ decision in Nelson Dance Family Trustees v HRMC (2008) SpC 682 has pointed out that, in IHT-speak, the word ‘transfer’ has a different meaning to its usual English meaning. The essential point to remember is that the IHT Act 1884 is a re-badged Capital Transfer Tax Act 1984. The old capital transfer tax legislation was not replaced in its entirety. It is not, therefore, surprising that some of the joints between the old and the new are a bit rough.