Inheritance Tax Threshold Raised for Couples

13/10/2007 by bill.

In his Annual Spending Review the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer raised, with immediate effect, the Inheritance Tax threshold for married couples and those in Civil Partnerships to £600,000 rising to £700,000 from 2010. Apart from stealing some of the Conservative Party thunder this will take away a major worry for many married couples that have seen house prices increases push them above the existing £300,000 threshold. Although inheritance tax is not payable when an inheritance is left to a spouse the allowance was not transferable often leaving an IHT liability on the death of the second spouse.

The new threshold applies retrospectively for an indefinite period so that all widows and widowers now have an allowance of £600,000 unless their spouse used part of their IHT allowance when they died.

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