Finance Act 1975

25 Liability for tax

(1) The persons liable for the tax on the value transferred by any chargeable transfer shall be determined in accordance with the following provisions of this section and, in the cases mentioned in other provisions of this Part of this Act, in accordance with those provisions; and, except as otherwise provided, where under this Part of this Act two or more persons are liable for the same tax each of them shall be liable for the whole of it.

(2) Where the chargeable transfer is made by a disposition (including any omission treated as a disposition under section 20(7) of this Act) of the transferor the persons liable are—

(a) the transferor and the transferee ; and

(b) so far as the tax is attributable to the value of any property, any person in whom the property is vested (whether beneficially or otherwise) at any time after the transfer or who at any such time is beneficially entitled to an interest in possession in the property ; and

(c) where by the chargeable transfer any property becomes comprised in a settlement, any person for whose benefit any of the property or income from it is applied.

(3) Where the chargeable transfer is one made under Schedule 5 to this Act, the persons liable are—

(a) the trustees of the settlement; and

(b) any person entitled (whether beneficially or not) to an interest in possession in the settled property; and

(c) any person for whose benefit any of the settled property or income from it is applied at or after the time of the transfer; and

(d) where the chargeable transfer is made during the life of the settlor and the trustees are not for the time being resident in the United Kingdom, the settlor.

(4) Where the chargeable transfer is made within three years of the transferor's death, then, with respect to so much of the tax as exceeds what it would have been had the transferor died more than three years after the transfer, subsection (2)(a) above shall have effect with the omission of the words " the transferor and " and subsection (3) above with the omission of paragraph (d).

(5) Where the chargeable transfer is (under section 22 of this Act) made on the death of any person, the persons liable are, subject to subsection (7) below.—

(a) so far as the tax is attributable to the value of property which either—

(i) was not immediately before the death comprised in a settlement; or

(ii) was so comprised and consists of land in the United Kingdom which devolves upon or vests in the deceased's personal representatives,

the deceased's personal representatives;

(b) so far as the tax is attributable to the value of property which, immediately before the death, was comprised in a settlement, the trustees of the settlement;

(c) so far as the tax is attributable to the value of any property, any person in whom the property is vested (whether beneficially or otherwise) at any time after the death or who at any such time is beneficially entitled to an interest in possession in the property;

(d) so far as the tax is attributable to the value of any property which, immediately before the death, was comprised in a settlement, any person for whose benefit any of the property or income from it is applied after the death ;

and for the purposes of this subsection a person entitled to part only of the income of any property shall, notwithstanding anything in paragraph 3 of Schedule 5 to this Act, be deemed to be entitled to an interest in the whole of the property.

(6) For the purposes of this section—

(a) any person who takes possession of or intermeddles with, or otherwise acts in relation to, property so as to become liable as executor or trustee (or, in Scotland, any person who intromits with property or has become liable as a vitious intromitter); and

(b) any person to whom the management of property is entrusted on behalf of a person not of full legal capacity,

shall be treated as a person in whom the property is vested.

(7) Where the chargeable transfer is made on death and any tax is by virtue of section 22(5) of this Act attributable to the value of any property which would have passed on the death for the purposes of estate duty, subsection (5) above does not apply in relation to the tax so attributable but the persons liable for that tax are the persons who would have been accountable for the estate duty in respect of that property.

(8) Where a transferor is liable for any tax and, by another transfer of value made by him on or after 27th March 1974, any property became the property of a person who at the time of both transfers was his spouse, that person is liable for so much of the tax as does not exceed the value of the property at the time of the other transfer.

(9) In this section " the transferee " means, in relation to a chargeable transfer, any person the value of whose estate is increased by the transfer; and for the purposes of this section any question whether trustees are resident in the United Kingdom shall be determined as under paragraph 12(5) of Schedule 5 to this Act.

(10) References in this section to any property include references to any property directly or indirectly representing it.