Your true Wealth Managers who keep their promises
We are one of the UK’s leading Inheritance Tax Specialists and Consultants. Our team of inheritance tax specialists cover the following areas:
- Trust tax advice and planning
- Family home
- Investment properties
- Companies, business and shares
- Offshore assets
- Domicile and residence
Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band
The current nil rate band is £325,000 per person. Any unused nil rate band can be transferred to the surviving spouse and be utilized at the time of the second death.
There is an additional nil rate band of £175k per person in relation to the main residence. The relief has been phased in from April 2017 at £100k and then will gradually increase by £25k each year until it reaches £175k in April 2020.
There is a tapered withdrawal of the additional nil-rate band for estates with a net value of more than £2 million. The withdrawal rate is set at £1 for every £2 over this threshold. Furthermore, the main residence nil-rate band is transferable to the surviving spouse and to be utilized in full at the second death.
Annual Gifts
You can make tax free gifts of cash up to £3,000 per annum to your children. You can carry any unused annual exemption forward to the next year – but only for one year. It is not possible to make multiple gifts of £3,000 in any one year. You can give a gift of up to £5000 to your children on their marriage.
The relevant legislation is found in section 7(4) Inheritance Tax Act 1984.
Taper relief is available should your death occur prior to the seven years of you making the transfers/ gifts (that are PETs) to your children. Taper relief is available on PETs if you survive more than 3 years after the date of the transfers/ gifts and gets bigger the further you get closer to seven years. The minimum relief is 20% and the maximum is 80% of the inheritance tax. The table below summarizes how the taper relief works:
| Years between transfer/ gift and death | Percentage of full tax rate applied |
|---|---|
| 3 to 4 | 80 |
| 4 to 5 | 60 |
| 5 to 6 | 40 |
| 6 to 7 | 20 |
If you would like to get a free consultation or inheritance tax advice
WILLS and TRUSTS:
We specialise in Wills, Islamic Wills and International Wills and we take the time to understand your financial and personal states, working with you to create a Will that meets your needs and the needs of those you care about.
Why do WE need a Will?
- Everyone should have a Will, but 2 out of 3 people have not yet made a Will and those that have, may not have the correct Will in place.
- An estimated 70,000 people per year have to sell their homes to pay for care.
- A large proportion of any inheritance is lost in future divorce settlements, to creditors or bankruptcy and unnecessary taxation.
- If you own a business or a share of a business then your spouse / partner and children may not inherit your share of a business.
- If you die without a Will, (referred to as dying intestate), your estate will be divided according to the intestacy rules.
Protecting Your Wealth
The vast majority of people put off making a Will for a variety of reasons, either believing that the people they would wish to inherit will automatically do so, or because they don’t think it is relevant to them at this particular time.
The reality is that you can put off making a Will until it is too late and this poses all sorts of problems for the people left behind and could mean that some, or all of your inheritance, either goes to the wrong person or to the state.
Everyone needs to make a Will. In particular, anyone with dependant relatives must do so. Anyone who owns a property or has any type of asset which you would wish relatives, friends or charities to benefit from should also make a Will.
Making a Will enables you to plan exactly what will happen to your property (estate) following your demise. This ensures that those you would like to benefit actually do so, in accordance with your wishes and at the same time avoiding any disputes between relatives.
BLOOD LINE PLANNING Wealth
Assets not protected by a Trust face attack from…
- Distributing assets absolutely to beneficiaries exposes those assets to risk.
- Creditors or Bankruptcy claims.
- The Divorce or separation settlements of future generations.
- Further Inheritance Tax bills.
How can I protect my children’s inheritance?
Protecting your inheritance for future generations is commonly referred to as “Bloodline Planning”.
Bloodline Planning is ensuring that your assets reach your children, grandchildren and other relatives, rather than ending up in the wrong hands!
When assets are distributed to beneficiaries “absolutely”, (i.e. they receive cash, property or other assets as a direct lump sum payment) so much can be lost. These assets are then considered to be part of the beneficiary’s estate and would be at risk of attack from any future divorce settlements, creditors and taxation.
The strategic use of Trusts can ensure that your children and grandchildren are able to benefit completely from the inheritance you want them to receive and at the same time, protect the family home and other assets from being lost to the costs of Long-Term Care.