Mark McLaughlin looks at valuing gifts of land and property for inheritance tax purposes.
Valuations of assets for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes is a specialised area. It is generally not an area for inexperienced taxpayers or tax professionals to dabble in. Even HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not normally engage in tax valuations of assets; instead, it uses specialists in other government departments (e.g., Shares and Assets Valuation for unquoted shares, and Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for land and buildings).
Tricky IHT valuation issues potentially include ‘related property’ (e.g., involving spouses), and valuation discounts for jointly owned property. However, this article focuses on land and buildings owned by a single individual (e.g., where a property was wholly owned by a widow on their death).
Leave it to the professionals!
Unfortunately, the IHT
