HM Revenue & Customs previously assessed Mr Banks as owing just over £160,000 on almost £1 million in donations to Ukip between October 2014 and March 2015.
HMRC has agreed an analysis of when the inheritance tax spouse exemption is available for assets held in a trust which are treated as beneficially owned by the settlor as a result of the reservation of benefit rules.
The interaction of the spouse exemption and gift with reservation inheritance tax (IHT) rules has been a subject of debate, with some arguing that the spouse exemption is not available where the gift with reservation rules apply.
This has come into focus because of the excluded property changes in Finance Act (FA) 2020. The impact of the FA 2020 changes appears to be to remove the protection that excluded property treatment provided for gift with reservation purposes in certain cases where the trust was established prior to the FA 2020 changes.
Practice note 1: England only: definition of dwelling and basis of valuation for Council Tax
1. Introduction
The Local Government Finance Act (LGFA) 1992 requires the Commissioners of Inland Revenue (now HMRC) to carry out valuations of dwellings in England and Wales for the purposes of compiling and maintaining valuation lists (sections 20-23), and specifies bands within which dwellings are to be placed (Section 5). The Act also requires that a similar valuation exercise be carried out in Scotland by the Scottish Assessors, acting under the direction of the Commissioners.
The Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992 as amended by The Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) (Amendment) Order 1994 (hereinafter referred to as “the regulations”) contain, inter alia, the basis of valuation to be adopted when banding for Council Tax purposes.