Inheritance tax planning
With tax currently charged at 40% on estates worth more than £312,000, rises in property values have brought even those with relatively modest homes into the inheritance tax (IHT) net.
The minimisation of inheritance tax is therefore an important part of tax planning for individuals and their families.
Who would find this service useful?
- UK individuals looking to order their affairs tax efficiently and wishing to pass wealth and /or business interests to their family
- overseas individuals who have property in the UK together with long term residents who will have exposure under the ‘deemed domicile’ rules if they have been tax resident in the UK for 17 out of the past 20 years
What inheritance tax planning services can we offer to our clients?
Working closely with our clients we develop future strategies. These need to be planned and implemented sensitively since inheritance tax is only one of the considerations; often succession issues and family arrangements take priority.
Implementing a strategy is likely to involve revising wills, and may utilise trusts if appropriate. There are also a number of tax products and tax efficient investments which can be used to mitigate inheritance tax. We work closely with our clients' lawyers or introduce lawyers suited to clients and the nature of the work. We believe that our clients' interests are best served by the complementary expertise of both a lawyer and tax expert.
Inheritance tax services for international clients
For international clients, including non-UK domiciled individuals, we ensure that our advice for the mitigation of potential UK inheritance tax liabilities is compatible with any overseas estate taxes to which the individual may also be exposed.
Our trusts and estates practice has the necessary expertise to administer any trusts that are formed as a result of the planning process.
A death in the family often leads to the requirement to act quickly to safeguard assets and deal with the planning opportunities that are possible even after death. Equally, lifestyle changes such as divorce, redundancy or inheritance, mean that a financial strategy should be reviewed.
Inheritance tax planning cannot be looked at in isolation. All our suggested strategies take account of the interaction with other taxes both domestic and overseas as appropriate.
If you would like to talk to one of our experts about inheritance tax planning, please contact:
email: Angela Kellock
tel: 020 7131 4385
email: Nick Osler
tel: 020 7131 4257
email: Andrew Penman
tel: 020 7131 4379
To find out more about the IHT threshold and how you can reduce your IHT liability click on the link to FAQs on the right.
