This week's opinion

I like to think that I have a reasonably good grasp of most aspects of the tax system but sometimes I find myself holding my head in my hands and admitting that something has defeated me. This was my reaction when I read and attempted to understand the HMRC’s new guidance on how downsizing affects the additional IHT threshold.

I tried to make sense of it but was still none the wiser. I could just about see how to compute the ‘lost additional threshold’ but could not decide whether this lost amount was a good or a bad thing as far as inheritance tax liabilities were concerned. After that very little made sense. What really compounded my sense of inadequacy was the accompanying note which stated: ‘This guide explains the basic rules but it can’t cover the more complex situations.’ Talk about kicking a man when he’s...