IHT Exempt Gift from Couple

UselessBanker

I don't seem to be able to find a clear answer to this...
It seems that for inheritance tax, the gift exemption applies to an *individual*. But what if a couple send a gift to their child from their joint savings / joint bank account, then one of them dies before 7 years have passed? Can the gift be considered to have been given by the surviving spouse, as all the couple's the jointly-held wealth would pass to the survivor?

Linton

Gifts from joint accounts would normally be treated as 50% from each.  I think you would need solid evidence to claimthat was not the case  - eg perhaps if the joint account was used temporarily to hold the gift that clearly came from only one person.

Keep_pedalling

As above it would be considered a joint gift. As few of us know in advance when we will kick the bucket it would be handy if we could apportion the gift to the surviving spouse, but HMRC don’t see it that way.