Excluded property: Changes to the regime

As heralded in the Autumn Budget 2018, the Draft Finance Bill 2019–2020 contains important legislative changes relating to excluded property settlements, and the rules governing transfers between them. The changes address HMRC’s defeat in the Court of Appeal in Barclays Wealth Trustees (Jersey) Ltd and Another v HMRC [2017] EWCA Civ 1512 (Barclays Wealth Trustees), concerning the imposition of an Inheritance Tax (IHT) charge arising following the transfer of foreign property from a non-excluded property settlement into an excluded property settlement when the settlor was domiciled in the UK. The effect of the legislation is to significantly narrow the scope of the excluded property exception for UK domiciled clients, and more importantly, to restrict the circumstances in which transfers between settlements can be made.