Treatment of certain liabilities
28.IHT is normally charged on the net value of a deceased person’s estate after deducting liabilities outstanding at the date of death, reliefs, exemptions and the nil-rate band. Property which is situated outside the UK and which belongs to, or was settled by, a non-UK domiciled individual is ‘excluded property’. It does not form part of a person’s estate and is not chargeable to IHT.
29.New provisions in section 162A IHTA introduced by Schedule 36 of Finance Act 2013 disallow a deduction for a liability if it has been used directly or indirectly to acquire excluded property, or to maintain or enhance such property, except in a few specified circumstances, because the excluded property is not chargeable to IHT.
30.Balances in a UK bank account which is denominated in a foreign currency and which are not taken into account in determining the value of a person’s estate on death are not chargeable to IHT yet are not excluded property. They would therefore not be affected by the provisions in section 162A and could still be used to allow an individual to secure a debt against property situated in the UK to reduce its value for IHT purposes, but retain the borrowed money in such a way that it was not subject to IHT.
31.The amendments made by this section will prevent the use of foreign currency accounts held by an individual who is not domiciled and not resident in the UK as a means of sidestepping the new provisions in section 162A.
