Written question asked by Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 10 March 2015. It was answered by Lord Deighton (Conservative) on Wednesday, 4 March 2015 on behalf of the Treasury.

Inheritance Tax

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will list all classes of assets which are subject to relief from inheritance tax.

Answer

The classes of assets which qualify for inheritance tax reliefs are as follows:

For business relief –

a business or interest in a business,
shares in an unlisted company,
shares controlling more than 50% of the voting rights in a listed company,
land, buildings or machinery owned by the deceased and used in a business they were a partner in or controlled,
land, buildings or machinery used in the business and held in a trust that it has the right to benefit from.

For agricultural relief –

land or pasture that is used to grow crops or to rear animals,
growing crops,
stud farms for breeding and raising horses and grazing,
trees that are planted and harvested at least every 10 years,
land not currently being farmed under the Habitat Scheme or a crop rotation scheme,
the value of milk quota associated with the land,
some agricultural shares and securities,
farm buildings, farm cottages and farmhouses.

For woodlands relief – the value of timber in a woodland

Further details about inheritance tax reliefs can be found on the Gov.uk website.^{^[1]}

Secondary information