We will succeed in business together - for a FREE consultation or quotation call 01484 723783
Top 10 tips on Estate Planning – to minimise your Inheritance Tax
- Make a will. This is the only way to ensure that your assets go to who you want them to and it can facilitate Inheritance Tax planning.
- If you and your partner are unmarried/not in a civil partnership there is no automatic right on your death for assets held in your name to be inherited by your other half. To guarantee that this will happen you must make a will.
- Review your will regularly. Legislation will change over time along with your personal circumstances and your will may become out of date.
- If the value of your assets less your liabilities equals less than the Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band (currently £325,000) you should not have an Inheritance Tax liability on your death.
- Use your lifetime exemption. £3,000 annual allowance, small gifts of up to £250, gifts in consideration of marriage.
- Transfers of assets between husband and wife or civil partners are, in most circumstances, exempt from Inheritance Tax.
- Transfers of assets between co-habitees are not exempt from Inheritance Tax on death but under current legislation would not attract an immediate charge to Inheritance Tax during the lifetime of the donor.
- You cannot give an asset away in an attempt to reduce your Inheritance Tax bill and continue to benefit from it. For example, you cannot give your home away and carry on living in it. If you do, its value will remain in your estate when calculating your Inheritance Tax liability on death.
- Trusts can be a useful Inheritance Tax planning tool and may protect your assets in the future should you need to pay nursing home fees or if there is a divorce in the family.
- Paying Inheritance Tax need not be inevitable. With good advice there is potential for substantially reducing your Inheritance Tax exposure thus allowing you to pass more of your estate on to your beneficiaries and not the tax man.
This entry was posted in
Inheritance Tax and tagged
Inheritance Tax. Bookmark the
permalink.
Web strategy Cliffe Associates
