Man owns jointly with his sister, a property that was formerly the home of their parents.
To minimise future capital gains tax liabilities should they decide to sell the property, they are considering gifting half of their share to their spouses, so the 4 of them will each own 25%, and benefit from 4 annual exemptions.
The solicitor has suggested that rather than a formal transfer, which would incur costs, if is their usual practice to deal with the gift by way of a Declaration of Trust, which would declare that henceforth brother holds his share of the property in trust for himself and his wife in equal shares. The same would apply for the sister and her husband.
Is anybody aware if HMRC accept this in terms of recognising that the spouses have beneficial ownership? Or is a formal transfer the only option?
Thanks
Martin