Gift With Reservation Of Benefit (GROB)
If a deceased person made a gift during their lifetime, its value could be added to the estate when they die if they kept back some sort of benefit. This is “reservation of benefit”.
As an example:
A parent gifts his house to his children, however he continues to reside in the house without paying rent.
A sister gives a valuable antique furniture to her brother, but keeps the furniture in her living room for the time being.
In the first instance, if the parent transferred the house to his children but still paid full rent to live there, there wouldn’t be any reservation of benefit.
If you sign over an asset you can no longer benefit from it by using or enjoying it. With a house, that means you can no longer live there. If the asset is a piece of antique furniture, then it can’t stay in your home – otherwise it’s a GROB.
A GROB means that your PET (potentially exempt transfer) tax prize goes up in smoke regardless of whether you cross the seven-year waiting period or not.
You can be certain that if you transfer a major asset (PET) in the years prior to your death, the tax inspector is going to examine it closely to see if you benefited from it. If you did benefit, the person you transferred the asset to could be in line for a major tax liability.
There are however, perfectly legal ways in which you can still enjoy your asset:
Visitation rights: If you give away your child as a PET, naturally you’re still entitled to visit them there. You can even stay with them for weekends or over Christmas, just as long as your main residence is somewhere else.
Pay rent: You can continue to use an asset as long as you pay the asset’s new owner the going market rent for it. So if you give your home away to your child and continue to live there, you must pay them rent.
Don’t be tempted to tamper with the rent. HMRC is watching and if they deem that a fair market rent wasn’t paid, then you can lose any IHT benefits.
From April 2005, under the pre-owned asset rules, people continuing to live in property they have given away can be hit with an income tax bill.
Your circumstances change: If your circumstances take a turn for the worse, then you may be able to use the asset in a limited way once more without risking GROB. This situation most often applies when someone gives away their home to a relative and then falls seriously ill – they may be able to move back in without fear of GROB.
It is also noteworthy that gifts between spouses are not subject to GROB rules.
No law exists against you giving away an asset as a Potentially Exempt Transfer and then continuing to use it as before. All that happens is that the clock doesn’t start ticking on the PET transfer until you stop using the asset – only then does the PET start on its seven-year journey to becoming free of IHT. Bear in mind that HMRC values the asset from the date you stopped using it and committing GROB, not on the day of the transfer. Overall, no tax advantages exist in continuing to use an asset you’ve given away.
Similar Posts:
- Probate Valuation Of Chattels: What is the Inheritance Tax Threshold?
- Probate Valuations: What is the Inheritance Tax threshold?
- Probate Valuation Of Chattels: Wills and Taxation (Part 2)
- Probate Valuation Of Chattels: Deeds Of Variation & Inheritance Tax
- UK Probate Valuation: Council Care Costs Mitigation