Here at WineOfTheWeek we like to keep the red flag flying high. Up until today our commitment to revolution has been limited to our ability to get up from the comfort of our armchair. But now things have changed.
Yesterday George “nice but dim’ Osborne punched us in the stomach by announcing he was taking money away from our son and today he hit us with an even lower punch by proclaiming that he’s after our wine.
HM Revenue and Customs have just announced that wine stored as an investment must be marked down for inheritance tax purposes at the estimated sale price at the time of its owners death rather than at the first price paid for the wine.
Now WineOfTheWeek isn’t a big investor but we do have a number of cases stored with the good people of The Wine Society and we intend to purchase a case of 2010 Bordeaux next year to mark the year of our son’s birth. The plan is to lay them down for his 21st birthday.
A statement from the Revenue reads:
“It is clear that a wine cellar must be valued at its open market value for Inheritance Tax purposes at the time of the relevant occasion of charge.
It has been brought to HMRC’s attention that information in the public domain indicates that for Inheritance Tax purposes wine cellars are valued at the purchase price rather than the value at the date of death. This is incorrect.”
Apparently it’s currently the case that wine cellars do not escape inheritance tax if the value of a family’s estate exceeds the threshold of £325,000 for individuals and £650,000 if a spouse or civil partner has died.
Inheritance tax has always seemed a bizarre way to remember the dead but to add another a layer of tax to wine when it’s taxed to buggery during it’s lifetime is simply beyond the pale.
Wine Drinkers of the world!! Unite!!! Unite!!!
