Business property relief is an important form of Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief but advisers at the CO...
Business property relief is an important form of Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief but advisers at the COVER Forum were warned that they should never provide assurances that it would always be available.
Speaking in a breakout session, Martin Rowe, individual protection manager at Aegon Scottish Equitable, said there were two areas for business assurance activity, including business continuation like key person and business succession such as share purchase, but that there were overriding limitations to this.
Rowe said though that there were restrictions on business property relief as an IHT relief. Firstly, the property will only qualify if it has been owned throughout the two years before proceeding the transfer. Secondly, business property relief is only available on trading companies and not investment companies.
Business property relief is when a transfer of value includes "relevant business property", the value transferred is reduced by a percentage - either 100% or 50%.
