Small gifts can they be paid via a parent and not be viewed as a gift to the parent?

[lizgreen333]

I am currently processing IHT400 and its many associated little friends following the death of my widowed mother.

Having created a spreadsheet of the various gift of money she gave away over the past 7 years I'm trying to decide which ones might escape IHT on the various grounds of
- 3k annual allowance
- small gifts to differrnt people
- regular gifts from income


Regarding the small gifts: does the gift have to have been paid directly to the recipient and documented as such? (eg. paid into an account in their name?)

For example: I have teenage/adult children and mother gave me £750 - which can be seen leaving her bank and arriving at mine (we have all the bank statements) but then I would have passed 250 to each child.I may have done this as cash or a bank xfer. It varied.
Will HMRC view this as a gift made to me, since it is MY bank account that it went into?

(in the same year she already gave me £3000 as her annual gift). So I need to be confident I can claim this was 3 x small gift to 3 different people even though it went into my account at first. Will they accept or even question this?

I know 750 is small beer but it happens a lot over the 7 year period I am documenting....
The estate is reasonably substantial and is definitely going to attract IHT despite NRB, RNRB and Transferable NRNB and RNRB. I do not want to over-declare the gifts. They are going to take a sizeable bit out of the total allowances as it is....
thank you all

[AGoodman]

IHT (and other taxes) operate on the basis of beneficial interest so the question is who the payment was intended to benefit.

If (as you suggest) your mother intended to benefit the three kids but it was easier to transfer the total to you, in the knowledge that you would pass it on, that should be treated as gifts to the kids direct.

[lizgreen333]

Thanks so much for your help.