Pre-Owned Assets & Inheritance
Tax Planning
Lexis Nexis Tolley Second Annual Conference,
London, 23 February 2006
Reviewed by Mark McLaughlin
CTA (Fellow) ATT TEP
An early start from Manchester to London (the alarm clock went off at
4.30am!), a snowy morning and delays on the flight from Manchester to
Heathrow (which resulted in me arriving at the seminar 10 minutes late)
could not dampen my enthusiasm to attend this conference (sad though that
may seem to some!). Inheritance Tax (IHT) and Pre-Owned Asset Tax (POAT)
are fairly ‘hot topics’ at present. The conference literature
quoted that ‘70% more people will pay IHT by 2005’, so it
is little wonder that the conference was well attended.
1) The Speakers
The speaker list was highly impressive. All are either well-known Tax
Counsel or Tax Experts in their field. The conference was excellently
chaired by John Tallon QC. His observations were insightful and at times
light hearted. Mr Tallon kept the conference moving along to the timetable,
and he also delivered a very interesting keynote address on ‘Planning
for non-UK domiciled individuals’. The other speakers were Terry
Jordan of BKL Tax, Nick Hughes of Chiltern plc, Jeremy Woolf, Barrister,
Sarah Dunn, Barrister, both of Pump Court Tax Chambers, and Matthew Hutton,
Chartered Tax Adviser. It would be unfair to single out particular speakers
for praise, as in my view all of them delivered informative lectures with
great skill.
2) The Conference Notes
The documentation package consisted of notes and copy slides. Incorporating
images of the slides in the notes is a good idea in my view. It allows
additional space for scribbling notes and thoughts during the lecture,
and provides a helpful aide memoire after the event. The notes for each
lecture were generally relatively short and concise. The quality of content
will be invaluable, because the notes are written in practical terms and
with the minimum amount of tax ‘jargon’. The technical content
of the notes is very high, as one might expect from such eminent experts.
Planning points are always very welcome for practitioners. Conference
notes are very often esoteric, and finish up being filed or left on a
shelf to gather dust. However, these notes are more likely to be read
and used, because they are not theoretical but practical in nature.
3) The Conference Content
The conference subjects were as follows:
• Pre-owned assets tax planning;
• IHT and trust planning;
• Business property relief;
• Planning for non-UK domiciled individuals;
• Tax-efficient will planning; and
• Post-death planning, variations, discretionary trust appointments
and disclaimers.
Clearly, subjects of this nature require the delegate to have a certain
degree of prior knowledge in those areas. The technical level of this
conference was high. It was not an ‘update’ type course of
a general nature. The information and opinions of the speakers were ‘up-to-the
minute’ in terms of explaining new developments and concepts in
their particular areas. For example, pre-owned assets tax is still evolving
in terms of policy and practice, and is relatively fast moving in terms
of knowledge of the Revenue’s views on its application.
I hope that a publisher or the conference provider commissions me to
write a technical review of this conference. It would be an excellent
excuse to read the notes in greater depth, and to be able to report and
comment on the practical and technical points and issues raised by the
speakers.
4) The Venue
The venue was the Holiday Inn, Regent’s Park, London. It was a
very pleasant venue for a seminar, as one might expect. The lunch was
very palatable, too! A general observation (from someone who lives in
Manchester) is that the best conferences normally seem to take place in
London. It would be greatly appreciated (by the writer at least!) if Lexis
Nexis and others could perhaps stage conferences of this quality in Northern
England as well.
5) Overall
This was a well organised, informative, enlightening conference. I left
with many excellent planning ideas in the areas covered. It was refreshing
to attend a conference containing practical content, as opposed to mere
statute and theory. There was a large volume of information to take in
during the day, and further reading of the notes afterwards will be important
to ensure that the ideas and concepts properly sink in.
The full cost of the conference was £599 plus VAT, although some
discounts and concessions were available. This is not an inconsiderable
amount. However, the cost does compare favourably with other conference
providers, particularly those in which the speakers include Tax Counsel.
The conference notes are separately available at £299 per pack.
Overall, this conference should be very useful to practitioners involved
with inheritance tax planning. It is not the type of conference that will
be attended to pick up CDP points (not by me, at least!). The writer would
fully expect practitioners to be able to apply many of the planning points
and insights from the conference in their day-to-day work, and that has
to make the event very good value for money. However, getting up at 4.30am
to attend is definitely not recommended!
More information
For full list of forthcoming conferences, please visit the Tax
Calendar.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this review are those of the writer only and not
necessarily those of TaxationWeb. No responsibility can be accepted by the
writer or TaxationWeb for any loss arising from action undertaken or refrained
from as a result of this review.
Mark McLaughlin
February 2006
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