What is a specific gift?
A specific gift, where the term refers to a disposition by Will, is generally understood to be a gift of a defined asset, such as a gold watch. A pecuniary legacy of a defined amount is also a specific gift. Inheritance tax legislation defines a specific gift negatively as meaning ‘any gift other than a gift of residue or of a share in residue’. This is somewhat circular since residue is what is left after debts, expenses and legacies have been paid. Nevertheless it is clear that a specific gift is a particular item or quantified amount, whereas a residuary gift is part or all of what is left. If the gift is a share of residue it is defined as a division, fraction, or percentage of an unspecified amount.
Specific gifts include the following:
- •
a single personal or household item eg a diamond ring, a painting, a motor vehicle
- •
a collection of items eg a stamp collection, all household furniture, a library of books
Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
Access this article for free with a 7 day trial of Tolley+™ Guidance and benefit from:
- Expert practical tax guidance
- Ready-made templates, step-by-step-guides, interactive flowcharts and checklists
- The latest news updates, insights and analysis
Popular Articles
Trade or hobby
Trade or hobbyInteraction of hobby farming rules and commercialityFarming has its own set of ‘hobby farming rules’, which historically have stated that a profit must be made every six years. This is known as ‘the five-year rule’, in that there can be five years of losses but there must be a profit
Self assessment ― estimates and provisional figures
Self assessment ― estimates and provisional figuresIf the taxpayer does not have sufficient information to enable them to complete the tax return in the time allowed, they should include either a best estimate or a provisional figure. The taxpayer should not either leave a box blank or enter
Maintenance payments
Maintenance paymentsMaintenance payments are payments made by a taxpayer to their former or separated spouse / civil partner for the maintenance of that person or their children. To obtain any tax relief for maintenance payments, one of the couple must have been born before 5 April 1935 and the
