Inheritance tax parents

Techhead

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If I receive a cash gift of say 50k from parents this will fall under inheritance tax threshold of 335000.

my question is can I gift it back at some point and restore my 335k threshold?
 
Your folks can lend you the €50k and you can pay it back with no impact on tax.

What are you looking to achieve? Your parents can gift you €3k each per year to you and a partner (if you have one).
 
Need it as a bridge loan to buy a house but bank doesn’t like the loan idea and said it has to be a gift which obviously triggers the inheritance. It’s my wife parents
 
How would this work exactly?

Could an individual receive 50k in a transfer from a parent to their account. Purchase a house and then gradually return the money thus resetting their inheritance allowance to 335k. Would you need to save and make a lumpsum return of 50k in one go or could you return say 5k a year for 10 years and make a record of the return?
 
Guess I’m asking can we gift it back and restore the wife’s inheritance threshold. I’ll have the money back to them when I sell my current home
 
No, you can’t. They’re two separate transactions.

What I have seen done is parents signing the bank declaration that a transfer is a gift and then separately executing a document confirming that the bank declaration is nonsense and a loan and only in existence because the bank insisted on it.
 
Thanks Gordon. Sounds like I need to talk to our solicitor to get the parents to sign two documents then.
 
Need it as a bridge loan to buy a house but bank doesn’t like the loan idea and said it has to be a gift which obviously triggers the inheritance. It’s my wife parents


I did this.

Parents were giving me bridging finance.

The bank insisted that the parents write a letter saying it's a gift, and that the parents get legal advice and some sort of deed.

It wasn't a gift, I paid them back within six months.
 
What I have seen done is parents signing the bank declaration that a transfer is a gift and then separately executing a document confirming that the bank declaration is nonsense and a loan and only in existence because the bank insisted on it.
Wow, sounds complex and difficult for the average joe and you would have to pay solicitors fees aswell to arrange that, I assume.
 
Wow, sounds complex and difficult for the average joe and you would have to pay solicitors fees aswell to arrange that, I assume.
Not really. You just need some kind of document saying the dates, parties, and sums involved which is signed by all (ideally witnessed too). Then you have to keep a record of loan and repayment transactions via bank transfer.

This isn't a complex contract for potential litigation in High Court, it's to satisfy Revenue if they ever ask at a future date.
 
This happens all the time. The bank won't allow it is as a loan as it is a further debt to be repaid. Sign the bank document and write a separate note signed by the parties involved saying that this note supersedes over the bank declaration that it is a loan and not a gift. It's not difficult.

And I bet if you asked around, there are plenty of parents who gave their child a deposit for a house and said nothing to the revenue. It happens all the time and the revenue know it.
 
This is an issue which pops up regularly, and the most common solution (saying one thing to the bank and something different to Revenue) seems to be commonplace. However, some clients are (understandably) uncomfortable with this. For those who like to be strictly compliant, the solution we have adopted when achievable ( which is not perfect, but is more in keeping with the strict rules)- is as follows:

a. Dad gives gift to child.
b. Within 3 years, child gives gift to Mother
c. This triggers application of gift-splitting rule and gift from Dad is now deemed to be a (fully exempt) gift to his spouse
d If three years is not long enough, rinse and repeat.

Offered on an fwiw basis and (as always) if in doubt seek advice specific to your situation.
 
This is an issue which pops up regularly, and the most common solution (saying one thing to the bank and something different to Revenue) seems to be commonplace. However, some clients are (understandably) uncomfortable with this. For those who like to be strictly compliant, the solution we have adopted when achievable ( which is not perfect, but is more in keeping with the strict rules)- is as follows:

a. Dad gives gift to child.
b. Within 3 years, child gives gift to Mother
c. This triggers application of gift-splitting rule and gift from Dad is now deemed to be a (fully exempt) gift to his spouse
d If three years is not long enough, rinse and repeat.

Offered on an fwiw basis and (as always) if in doubt seek advice specific to your situation.

Where does the child get the cash to make the gift to the mother?
 
Where does the child get the cash to make the gift to the mother?
The particular scenario addressed is that if an advance (which was always really a loan - but has been sworn to be a gift) is being repaid, it can be 'repaid' with a further gift - not to the original person but to their spouse.

Now, instead of two separate 'gift' transactions, you have two transactions which the gift-splitting rules say must be treated a particular way.
 
This is an issue which pops up regularly, and the most common solution (saying one thing to the bank and something different to Revenue) seems to be commonplace. However, some clients are (understandably) uncomfortable with this. For those who like to be strictly compliant, the solution we have adopted when achievable ( which is not perfect, but is more in keeping with the strict rules)- is as follows:

a. Dad gives gift to child.
b. Within 3 years, child gives gift to Mother
c. This triggers application of gift-splitting rule and gift from Dad is now deemed to be a (fully exempt) gift to his spouse
d If three years is not long enough, rinse and repeat.

Offered on an fwiw basis and (as always) if in doubt seek advice specific to your situation.

What is Fwiw basis ?
 
The particular scenario addressed is that if an advance (which was always really a loan - but has been sworn to be a gift) is being repaid, it can be 'repaid' with a further gift - not to the original person but to their spouse.

Now, instead of two separate 'gift' transactions, you have two transactions which the gift-splitting rules say must be treated a particular way.

An interesting approach. Though I rarely hear of scenarios where the loan is repaid at all, and almost never of cases where the borrower would have the means to repay the loan so soon.
 
An interesting approach. Though I rarely hear of scenarios where the loan is repaid at all, and almost never of cases where the borrower would have the means to repay the loan so soon.
You are saying most people take the gift, tell the bank it's a gift and then tell revenue it was a loan and how do they prove the paid it back?

If they can't prove they paid it back, then is should come off the inheritance allowance is that not right?
 
You are saying most people take the gift, tell the bank it's a gift and then tell revenue it was a loan and how do they prove the paid it back?

If they can't prove they paid it back, then is should come off the inheritance allowance is that not right?

In the absence of any further steps or information, yes, you are correct.

However, what happens in practice is that the parents lend the money to their son or daughter (and also, potentially, to their daughter-in-law or son-in-law).

They then write-off the loan over time using the €3,000 Small Gift Exemption.

For example, we were loaned a sum of money and each year the lenders write-off €12k of it or thereabouts. That’s €84k written-off since 2015, which otherwise would have been taxed at 33%. So the family has saved around €28k of tax.
 
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