Lump sum payments when buying property

[legal girl]

My partner's mum has given him a lump sum of money, representing his inheritance so that we can buy a property together. My boyfriend seems to think that we will be taxed on this and that questions will be asked as to where the money has come from so we won't be able to put this towards the house purchase. He said that he heard somewhere that people are not allowed to receive lump sums of money without questions being asked or tax being charged. Anyone know anything about this?

[jack daniels]

I'm not sure about being taxed on the money but we went through the process of showing/proving where the money has come from i.e. providing hard evidence of how & where the money came from.
If the money was from an account & you could show this with a building society/bank book, then you should be ok.
If you were given cash & can't show how/where it came from then you may have problems to use it.
It's all to do with the money laundering act.

[anniebird]

This is classed as a gift for inheritance tax purposes and if your partner's mother survives for 7 years there will be no problems with tax. If he has siblings his mother should change her will to reflect the fact that he has received this money early.

Money laundering rules state that you must be able to prove how you acquired large sums of money and that it is legitimate, which you can do by asking his mother to confirm the gift in writing. There is no tax on gifts.

Once you have that proof you can use the money as you wish.

[legal girl]

Thanks for your answers Jack Daniels and Anniebird. His sister has also received her share of the inheritance. Thanks again - you've both been helpful