The Inheritance Tax (Indexation) Order 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, made under section 8 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (formerly the Capital Transfer Tax Act 1984) (“section 8”), substitutes a new Table of rate bands and rates in Schedule 1 to that Act for the Table which was substituted by the Inheritance Tax (Indexation) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/771) in relation to chargeable transfers made in the year beginning 6th April 2004.

The figures in the first and second columns of the new Table are the amounts specified in the Table in Schedule 1 to the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (as so substituted) increased by the amount of the percentage increase in the retail prices index for September 2004 over that for September 2003, and rounded up to the nearest £1,000 in accordance with subsections (2) and (3) of section 8 (as amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 19 to the Finance Act 1986 and section 197 of the Finance Act 1993). The “retail prices index” is defined in subsection (3) of section 8, as amended by paragraph 21 of Schedule 2 to the Transfer of Functions (Registration and Statistics) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996/273), as “the general index of retail prices (for all items) published by the Office for National Statistics”. The retail prices index for September 2003 is 182.5 and for September 2004 is 188.1 (based on January 1987 as 100) (see Table 3.1 on page 84 of the November 2004 issue (No. 612) of Economic Trends, a National Statistics publication).

The new Table will apply in relation to chargeable transfers on or after 6th April 2005 unless Parliament otherwise determines.