Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 section 13

Surviving joint tenant deemed to take an inheritance, etc

Section 13 deals with the inheritance tax treatment of jointly owned property when one of the joint owners dies.

• When a joint tenant dies, the surviving joint tenant or tenants are deemed to take an inheritance of the deceased's share in the property.
• The deceased joint tenant is treated as the disponer (the person from whom the inheritance is taken), and the survivor or survivors are treated as the successor or successors.
• Where property passes to joint tenants, inheritance tax is calculated as if the joint tenants had taken their shares as tenants in common in equal shares.
• This equal-share treatment applies because each joint tenant has the power to sever the joint tenancy and become the absolute owner of a distinct share in the property.