Inheritance Tax Act 1984 section 39

Attribution of value to residuary gifts

Section 39 deals with how the value transferred on death is attributed to gifts of residue or shares of residue in an estate.

• The residuary estate is whatever remains of the value transferred after specific gifts have been dealt with under section 38.
• Only the portion of the value transferred that has not been attributed to specific gifts is allocated to the residue.
• This applies equally to gifts of the whole residue and to gifts of shares in residue.
• This section works together with section 38 to ensure the entire value transferred is allocated between specific and residuary gifts without overlap.