Inheritance tax: time to reform overly complex rules

Inheritance tax may be paid by less than 5% of estates but it is a hugely complex system and now the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has asked the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to come up with simplification proposals. Paul Morton, tax director and Daphna Jowell, IHT review team leader at the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) consider key problem areas requiring reform

'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes’. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has asked the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to conduct its first in-depth review of inheritance tax (IHT).

The OTS always considers the perspective of the user of the tax system: primarily the taxpayer but not forgetting professional advisers or, indeed, HMRC professionals. For this review, OTS will seek to identify and investigate any opportunities to help improve the user experience of individuals and advisers filling out IHT forms and interacting with HMRC.

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