On the bright side ...

THE CHANGES TO the inheritance tax treatment of trusts introduced by Finance Act 2006 are largely unwelcome. Removing the equivalence between outright gifts and gifts into interest in possession trusts introduces an unhelpful fiscal disincentive to donors seeking to protect their intended beneficiaries from the often damaging effects of too much wealth at too young an age. The alterations to the accumulation and maintenance trust regime and the imposition by the Government of an 'acceptable age to inherit' i.e. 18 ignores the wishes of most prudent parents and grandparents. Above all the tortuous complexity that these and other changes bring to an already complicated and difficult area of tax law now make estate planning extraordinarily difficult.
All that said every cloud has a silver lining and by way of a little light relief highlighted below are a few areas where the FA 2006...