What should we do about inheritance tax - and is it time to cut it?
This is Money Podcast
This is Money
4.1 • 650 Ratings
🗓️ 30 November 2018
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Inheritance tax is a conundrum. Just 5 per cent of estates currently incur it but it’s been voted Britain’s most unfair major tax.
Even with the number of people hit by it expected to double, it seems we just don’t like the concept.
It’s no wonder then that the Chancellor commissioned a report into it from the Office of Tax Simplification, but no one forecast that to be as damning about the system as it was.
It’s complicated, more than ten times as many bereaved families have to fill in forms as pay it, and it turns out the very rich pay proportionally less than those directly below them.
Does that make inheritance tax ripe for a change and how could it be adjusted? Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss that on this week’s podcast.
Also, on the show they discuss why tenants are still waiting for a fees ban, whether the latest move to curb private parking tickets goes far enough and the least reliable cars you can buy second hand.
And finally, we’ve all heard the one about how airlines might use your browsing history to hike flight costs, but have you heard about error fares that can get you somewhere for a fraction of the normal price? And more to the point are both these true. We bust five flight booking myths.
Enjoy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to This Is Money podcast in partnership with NS&I. I'm your host Georgie Frost and alongside me today is editor Simon Lambert. |
| 0:08.0 | And coming up, is it time to make inheritance tax forms simpler and stop piling more misery onto bereave families? |
| 0:15.0 | Just when will the government pull their finger out on costly letting fees? |
| 0:19.0 | We have victory for motorists over |
| 0:21.6 | unfair parking charges. We tell you the 10 least reliable cars to watch out for and bust a couple of |
| 0:28.0 | myths about flight bookings to get you the best price. All that and plenty more coming up. Don't forget |
| 0:32.9 | you can stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news. Just go to this ismoney.com.uk or download the |
| 0:38.3 | app. This is money. Brought to you in partnership with NS and I premium bonds, creating millions |
| 0:45.1 | of reasons to celebrate every month. Now, tax doesn't have to be taxing as the old HMRC advert |
| 0:51.8 | used to go. But it is. We even have an office for tax simplification who are telling us it is. |
| 0:57.3 | And one area that's particularly onerous is inheritance tax. |
| 1:00.1 | Now, 10 times more bereaved families have to fill in a form than actually owe any tax. |
| 1:05.5 | And the OTS says it can take over 100 hours to do. |
| 1:09.4 | So firstly, Simon, welcome. |
| 1:11.5 | Back in January, Chancellor Philip Hammond ordered this sweeping review of inheritance tax. |
| 1:16.6 | Is this part of that review? |
| 1:18.7 | This is part of that review. |
| 1:20.9 | And the first part of that review came out at the tail end of last week. |
| 1:26.4 | And it's from the Office of Tax Simplification. They said in the first part, they're really looking at the tail end of last week. And it's from the Office of Tax Simplification. |
| 1:28.9 | They said in the first part, they're really looking at the administration and structure of the tax |
| 1:33.7 | and what happens when people have to pay it, fill in the forms, what happens at death and so on. |
| 1:39.5 | And the second part of the review is the bit, the juicy bit that everyone's waiting for, |
... |
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