Inheritance Tax and Planning

Inheritance Tax is an area that is currently under a lot of scrutiny by the Office for Tax Simplification (which probably won’t do what it says on the tin) so watch this space…as they say!

• Maximising use of available reliefs and exemptions including business property relief and other lesser known reliefs – We recently saved one family £350,000.00 in tax by utilising one such relief

• Advising on lifetime gifts (including gifts into trust)
• Ensuring that your Will is as tax efficient as possible
• Maintaining the tax benefits of existing trust arrangements

Other than gifts to a spouse, or charity (and also in some instances gifts to political parties – although surprisingly these are not very common!) which are exempt from tax, whatever the value, a certain amount of your Estate can be passed on inheritance tax-free; this tax-free allowance is called the ‘nil-rate band’.

The current inheritance tax (IHT) threshold is £325,000 per person. It doubles to £650,000 for a married/civil partnership couple – as long as the first person to die leaves their entire estate to their partner.

An additional allowance can also be claimed if you wish to pass on your house (or its value) to your descendants. This includes children, adopted or foster children, stepchildren and grandchildren. Any unused part of this allowance can be transferred for use by your spouse/civil partner on their death but be warned, for higher value estates this allowance can be lost. We can advise on the best way to structure your Wills and planning to try to capture as much of this allowance as possible.

During your lifetime you can give away a certain amount of your money, tax-free and without it counting towards your estate. We can advise on the best way to structure such gifts

Tax planning can also be carried out after a death by way of a deed of variation (within two years of death).

You can also learn about Trusts and Lifetime Settlements.

Please Note. Obviously the situation with regard to Inheritance Tax can and will change according to the policies of the Government in power at any one time, so we always advise you take advice directly from one of our Wills, Trusts and Estates Team as individual circumstances vary enormously.

You can also check the Government Website directly: www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/overview

To gain the most out of tax planning it is prudent to seek advice as soon as possible from rhw, so contact us to discuss your requirements.

Call rhw, inheritance tax lawyers in Guildford, on  or email