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Finance Bill

New clauses 1 and 8 take a slightly different approach to a problem while delivering, in essence, the same outcome. I shall explain during the course of my remarks why we have chosen to table two different solutions to the problem that we have identified. New clause 8 amends the Inheritance Tax (Delivery of Accounts) (Excepted Estates) Regulations 2004—a snappily named little piece of secondary legislation—that was made with respect to section 256 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984. It is designed to amend the provision by omitting ““must”” and inserting ““may””, thus making the delivery of a return permissive. New clause 1 adopts a rather more radical approach by disapplying regulations 6 to 10, dispensing with the requirement for returns altogether. The regulations that the new clauses amend make provision in relation to the delivery of accounts and other information for inheritance tax purposes. As is often the case, the 2004 regulations were presented as a deregulatory measure—and to some extent they are. Prior to the 2004 regulations—[Interruption.] Judging by the noises off, Mr. Speaker, I suspect that we have a result from Singapore. Before those regulations, estates just below the inheritance tax value were required to deliver a full account to the Revenue.