The UK's Heritage - The Conditional Exemption Tax Incentive
What is the Conditional Exemption incentive?
The aim of the scheme is to preserve the country's heritage for your enjoyment. It encourages private owners to retain and care for our heritage. It also gives you the opportunity of seeing art and of visiting historic houses and historic furnishings as well as outstanding scenic, historic or scientific land that might not otherwise be available to the public.. It is just one of a number of Government measures which enable items to be saved or preserved for the nation.
How does it work?
Inheritance tax and/or capital gains tax is not paid when an item which qualifies for exemption passes to a new owner on death or is gifted. However in order to obtain the exemption the new owner must agree to look after the item, allow public access to it and, if it is moveable, keep it in the UK. But it is only a conditional exemption. If the owner fails to fulfil their side of the bargain, the exemption is withdrawn and tax is payable. Tax is also payable if the item is sold. For more information on the undertakings that owners provide in return for the exemption see information on undertakings.
What items qualify for exemption?
A wide range of the country's heritage has qualified for the exemption:-
- Outstanding historical buildings, estates and parklands and works of art, furnishings, sculptures etc. linked to these or to other historical buildings.
- Buildings of outstanding architectural interest.
- Land of outstanding historic interest or of outstanding natural beauty and spectacular views including woodlands, heath land etc.
- Land of outstanding scientific interest including special areas for the conservation of wildlife, plants and trees.
- Paintings, portraits, drawings, watercolours, furniture, sculptures, books, manuscripts, ceramics etc of artistic, historic or scientific interest in their own right.
All the above are available for all to enjoy. For more details on access see Rights of access. And many of the works of art are also available for loans to public collections for special exhibitions-see Works of Art:Search.
Who decides what items qualify?
HMRC, in the light of advice from the Government's heritage advisory agencies:-
-English Heritage
(for historic land, buildings and their contents in England)
-Natural
England (land of scenic, historic or special scientific interest
in England)
-Historic Scotland
(for historic buildings and land in Scotland)
-Scottish Natural Heritage
(for scenic land and land of special scientific interest in Scotland)
-Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments
(for buildings in Wales)
-Countryside Council for Wales
(for land in Wales)
-Environment and Heritage Service
(for land and buildings in Northern Ireland)
-Forestry Commission
(for woodland areas)
-MLA (for paintings,
portraits, drawings, watercolours, furniture, sculptures, books, manuscripts
etc of artistic, historic or scientific interest in their own right.
This web-site is central to publishing the scheme. It contains information about exempt:-
- Land and buildings
- Collections of works of art, furniture etc, including those in historic houses (the public can obtain further details about individual items from the contact points shown)
- Individual works of art etc including those items available for loans for exhibitions in museums or galleries. Items exempted before 1998 and on long term loan to public galleries are already in the public domain as part of those collections and are not therefore included..
To find out what is available see land, buildings and their contents, Collections of Works of Art and other objects and Works Of Art:Search.
How do I know when items are available to be seen?
This web-site shows how everything can be seen. For buildings and their contents and collections open to the public specific opening times are given as well as directions on how to get there. These are updated each year to show the opening times for the next season. Access details are also given for exempt land which, apart from conservation restrictions or at certain times for land management purposes, is generally available all year round. The majority of works of art are displayed in museums or galleries or in historic houses open to the public but some are only available to be seen by appointment. For further details on access see Rights of access. More detailed information is also available in the IHT Manual Annex: Guidance Notes on Public Access to Conditionally Exempt Property.
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