Lee Sharpe looks at some of the tax implications of inter-spousal transfers.
“[The introduction of independent taxation between spouses was] bound to mean that some couples would transfer assets between themselves so that their total tax will reduce; this was an inevitable and acceptable consequence of taxing husbands and wives separately“.
Taking this statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the early 1990s as the starting point, it could be argued that ministers and inspectors have done their utmost over the intervening decades to curtail the bold sweep of that statement. This article takes a brief look at the key tax mechanisms in relation to transferring property between spouses and civil partners.
Income tax
Possibly the most common issue is the
