Peter Coombes

I understand the principles behind this exemption from IHT. I have a Self Invested Pension Fund where I can withdraw however much I want. At the moment I draw a small token amount because I have enough income from other sources eg ISA's where I do not pay Income Tax. If I draw significantly more from my SIPP, it will incur income tax but it will be in excess of my needs and could therefore be gifted away on a regular monthly basis. I assume this will be exempt IHT. I could even divide my pension fund into monthly amounts over say 5 years and gift it all away. There seems to be no mention of this situation on the UK Gov tax website or in IHT textbooks. It maybe that only dividends and fund income can be drawn of as IHT exempt. Clarification would be useful as it seems impossible to get advice on this issue.