IHTM25302 | The ownership test: Meaning of ownership

For the purposes of the ownership test (IHTM25301) (including the three situations where the general rule is relaxed) we consider ownership to have the following meaning

• in the case of settled property in which there is no qualifying interest in possession, legal ownership by the trustees,

• in all other cases, beneficial entitlement (IHTM04031), which includes entitlement to settled property in which the deceased/transferor had a qualifying beneficial interest in possession (IHTM16060).

In view of IHTA84/S91, where an unadministered residuary estate (IHTM22025) includes business property, a residuary beneficiary is treated as owning the business property, or an appropriate share of it.