Am I right in thinking that there is no difference from an IHT point of view in either splitting a RP trust into subfunds or appointing the assets into a number of new RP trusts, and if the latter, there would be no IHT charge on the appointments, as the assets are deemed for IHT purposes to remain in the original settlement?
From a practical point of view, on ten year and proportionate charge events, I can see it would be simpler if everything was in one trust, with the subfunds being administered together as one.
I agree that nothing is achieved for IHT purposes by appointing funds across to another RP trust, and in fact it complicates things considerably if there are other funds in the transferee trust.
Worse still there is no CGT hold over under s 260 TCGA.
Whilst IHT might not be an issue, CGT may serve to complicate matters, as the sub-funds will constitute a single settlement (with acquisitions and disposals being made into and out of a single pool) unless a sub-fund election is made. Such an election will entail a deemed disposal into each of the sub-funds for which it is made.
