I want to give some valuable personal items to my two sons so they don’t have to pay inheritance tax on them, however I don’t really want the boys to have the items before I die, so is it possible to give them away and then borrow them back?
You can’t give your property away and continue to use it: the taxman would regard it as subject to reservation and would add the value of the items to your estate. In addition to small gifts not exceeding £250 per person, gifts out of income and certain gifts on marriage, you and your wife can each give away £3,000 in cash or property a year which will escape inheritance tax; otherwise the gifts have to be made seven years before you die to avoid inheritance tax altogether.