Inheritance Tax
“With careful forward planning the burden of inheritance tax can be reduced or avoided”.
ROBERT ARNOLD, Director
With rising house prices, the general level of prosperity, more and more of us are now affected by Inheritance Tax. The very low increases in the nil rate band exemptions do little in real terms to reduce the burden of this tax.
However, there is much that can be done to protect your estate from Inheritance Tax. If you are married or in a civil partnership, you should ensure your Will makes efficient use of the nil rate band exemptions so that whichever one of you dies first, the exempt amount is not wasted. The amounts exempted by the nil rate band are £300,000 for 2007/2008, £312,000 for 2008/2009 and £325,000 in 2009/2010.
We have a multi-disciplinary team comprising not only of Solicitors but also Chartered Tax Advisers, a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians and members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Our talented team can advise on avoidance and mitigation of this tax by:
• Setting up inheritance tax efficient Will structures such as nil rate band discretionary trusts
• Advising on life-time gifts either to trusts or individuals
• Ensuring use is being made of the annual exemptions, in particular the regular gifts out of surplus income
• The use of retail products as tools for inheritance tax planning
We also advise:
• Personal representatives and trustees on their obligations now even more onerous for trustees following the changes introduced in the Finance Act 2006
• On the efficacy of past arrangements and whether they offend the anti-avoidance gifts with reservation of benefits rules or even fall within the ambit of the Pre-owned Assets Tax
• Whether either or both of the generous Agricultural Property and Business Property Reliefs will help to reduce the burden
• On the benefits of deeds of variation to improve the inheritance tax position both immediately and in the long term securing greater inheritances for your beneficiaries
We can also co-ordinate a holistic approach to tax planning generally by ensuring that your financial adviser is involved, opening up other regulated options such as funding for inheritance tax through a life policy, purchasing discounted gift trusts, AIM (Alternative Investment Market) portfolios or perhaps equity release products to assist in the mitigation of inheritance tax.
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