Powers of attorney and capital gains tax

When a power of attorney is granted this grants to someone else the legal authority to act on your behalf either for certain specific purposes or on a more general basis. In tax terms one important issue is whether there is any transfer of beneficial interest where there is a power of attorney granted. For most tax purposes it's the beneficial owner that is taxed on income and gains from an asset, and therefore establishing where the beneficial interest lies is important. If the beneficial interest is with the attorney they would be subject to tax on the income and gains. This would also apply if for example a UK domiciliary has transferred cash overseas to a non UK domiciliary and holds a power of attorney over their bank account. In that case who holds the beneficial interest in the account is important in assessing the tax rules that would apply (eg the remittance basis or arising basis?) A beneficial interest represents the rights of the true owner of the property. This is therefore often recognised as the right to make decisions and benefit from the asset. In the case of property, statutes make it clear that the attorney will not usually hold the beneficial interest. In particular they are acting in a legal capacity for the donor of the power of attorney (ie the person who granted it) but that person still retains the beneficial interest. They could for example cancel the power of attorney if they wanted. The legislation relating to property transfers by attorneys states that the person who granted the power of attorney must at the time the transfer is made own a beneficial interest in that property. Therefore the power of attorney should not usually result in a transfer of the beneficial interest in an asset (eg there is no disposal for capital gains tax purposes as there is no transfer of assets to an attorney.