Chancellor 'to address IHT and non-domiciled indiviuals'

The pre-Budget report to be made by chancellor of the exchequer this afternoon is expected to include big increases in thresholds for inheritance tax (IHT), it has been reported.

Alistair Darling will also address the issue of non-domiciled businessmen and private equity bosses who live abroad paying little in the way of taxes, according to the Scotsman.

Edinburgh South West’s MP will also state that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will examine the way in which small family businesses disseminate profits among members of the family to avoid paying taxes, the newspaper states.

Increases in IHT boundaries and a crackdown on non domiciled individuals may be a response to shadow chancellor George Osborne’s pledge at the start of this month that a Conservative government would raise the threshold to £1 million, reports the publication.

The current threshold for IHT stands at £300,000 and in his last Budget as chancellor Gordon Brown advised that the it will rise to £350,000 by 2010.