Inheritance Tax for Grandchildren

Hi-I'm a first time poster here.
My mother is a widow in her eighties. She worked all her life and paid tax and she also paid into a pension. She now receives her pension and again has to pay tax on it. It upsets her to think that when she dies, a third lot of tax will have to be paid on the same money! Her estate will be divided in three, one-third to my brother, one-third to myself and one-third divided between my two nieces (who will receive my deceased sister's share). My brother and myself, as her children will not have to pay inheritance tax as our inheritance would fall under the allowance for children of the deceased, however my nieces, as her grandchildren will as their allowance is only around €30,000 each. This seems unfair - they are receiving their mothers share and if she were still alive, she would not have to pay inheritance tax. Is there any way around this? If my mother were to set up two joint accounts, one in each of my nieces name with my mother as the second accountee, and put some cash in to these accounts, are my nieces (as the second person named in the joint account) ok to access this money further down the road - this seems far too simple a solution so i'm sure it won't work! Any help would be appreciated

Your mother could gift up to 3000 per annum to anyone she chooses with no tax implications. This would take some of the grandchildren's inheritance out of the equation. If she funds the account and the grandchildren benefit then I believe that it would be included for CAT purposes.

Just to note, the tax she is paying on her pension is in fact deferred tax as she received tax relief when contributing to it. This appears to catch a lot of people by surprise.

Sybil

If your nieces are minors when the get their inheritance, they will get the Group A threshold.

Thanks Mrs Vimes and Nige - Unfortunately, my nieces are no longer minors, they are both in college.
We did look at giving my nieces the money now in smaller amounts but my mothers worry there would be two fold - firstly, she'd rather they didn't know about their inheritance for the moment in case they "sit on their laurels knowing there's some money coming their way", and secondly, while my mother's financial situation at the moment is quite comfortable, as she says herself she doesn't know how long she will be around for, she could be here for the next ten years (please god) and if so, she may need care or a nursing home, which will have to be funded out of her savings, so her financial situation may change and she may require her savings for nursing home fees, etc.