Inheritance Tax Act 1984 section 120

Successions

Section 120 deals with how ownership and occupation periods are calculated for agricultural property relief when a transferor inherits property on someone's death, with special rules for property inherited from a spouse or civil partner.

• When a person inherits agricultural property on someone's death, they are treated as having owned (and occupied) it from the date of that death, helping them meet the minimum ownership and occupation periods required for agricultural property relief.
• If the property was inherited from a spouse or civil partner, the transferor can also count any period during which the spouse or civil partner owned the property and occupied it for agricultural purposes, effectively combining both periods of ownership and occupation.
• Where the transferor inherited their interest from a spouse or civil partner who died on or after 10 March 1981, additional transitional rules apply: the transferor is treated as having been beneficially entitled to the property for the same period as their spouse or civil partner was entitled to it.
• Under these transitional rules, the condition regarding whether the property qualified for the higher rate of relief before 10 March 1981 is judged by reference to the deceased spouse or civil partner, but the condition regarding vacant possession or the right to obtain it must be satisfied in relation to both the transferor and the deceased spouse or civil partner.