Happy birthdayPre-Owned Asset Tax

tax

So far Revenue & Customs has interpreted the Pre-Owned Assets Tax legislation generously, but it is too early to measure its effectiveness and fairness

In late 2003 the Inland Revenue lost the Eversden case which exploited an anomaly in the inheritance tax gift with reservation rules. Relatively simple trust structures were increasingly being used to shelter family homes from inheritance tax. The Government reacted by changing the rules and introduced a new tax charge - colloquially known as Pre-Owned Asset Tax (Poat) - to counter the potentially significant loss of tax revenue. Poat is an income tax charge levied on benefits received by a previous owner of certain categories of assets. The tax charge applies to individuals rather than c...