Inheritance Tax Act 1984 section 269

Control of company

Section 269 defines what it means for a person to have "control" of a company for inheritance tax purposes, including how related property and settled shares are taken into account.

• A person has control of a company if they hold voting power that, if exercised, would produce a majority of votes on all questions affecting the company as a whole.
• Shares or securities are treated as giving control if, when combined with any related property (such as shares held by a spouse), they would be sufficient to give that person a majority of votes.
• Where shares are held in a trust, the voting power they carry is attributed to the individual who has a current beneficial entitlement to those shares, rather than to the trustees — unless no individual has such an entitlement.
• Shares carrying voting rights limited only to winding up the company, or to matters primarily affecting that particular class of shares, are excluded when determining whether someone has control over all questions affecting the company as a whole.