Dwelling-house relief must be retained by Government

The difference between a tax loophole and a tax relief is that a loophole is a relief for which you don’t qualify. This flippant definition has been overtaken by the events of the past few years.

Since 2008, many forms of tax reliefs and incentives have been whittled-out of the tax code. Taxpayers are confined to standard reliefs and allowances, like PAYE allowances, and to paying tax at high marginal rates after that.

Some tax reliefs, though, have survived — a case in point is the dwelling-house relief, which can reduce the inheritance tax on homes.