Inheritance Tax Planning
According to HM Treasury 6% of estates are currently within the charge to inheritance tax. However, some commentators believe that 25% of the UK’s adult population have a potential liability to Inheritance Tax and this will more than likely continue to increase. Given the continued strong growth in house prices throughout most of the country over the last few years more people than ever are unwittingly facing an IHT time bomb. It is believed inheritance tax will net HM Revenue & Customs in the region of £3.4 billion for the year ended 5 April 2007.
When should I plan for IHT?
IHT planning should be undertaken now! Currently individuals suffer IHT on any wealth in excess of £300,000 so if you own your own house and have savings, life assurance policies or business assets you may potentially face a large IHT bill on any wealth over the threshold. It is important that IHT planning is undertaken as early as possible as a number of key planning strategies require time to be effective. This is particularly important where lifetime IHT planning is concerned as any gifts for IHT purposes only become completely exempt from IHT if you survive seven years from the date of the gift.
How does IHT work?
IHT is chargeable on death on the value of your personal wealth taking into account any lifetime gifts made within seven years of your death. IHT is chargeable at 40% on the value of your estate at death less the £300,000 exemption. Any lifetime gifts made during the last seven years prior to death are taxed at 40% less taper relief depending on how long before death the gift was made.
What do I need to think about?
The key things to consider when evaluating your IHT position will be:-
Your financial needs
It is important that you consider your financial needs both now and in the future. As IHT Planning may involve gifting part of your current wealth to your children it makes sense to ensure that both you and your spouse are provided for, especially in retirement.
Your family’s financial needs
As part of IHT planning you would need to consider the requirements of your family in the future and importantly how much control you wish them to have over any assets that you gift to them. It is also important to consider the needs of your spouse if you were to die first and to this extent adequate provision would have to be made in your will. When considering the value of your estate it is also important to consider the intentions of your parent or any other elderly relatives as they may wish to leave assets to you in their will.
What if I have valuable business assets?
Generally if you run a business and you have full control of the business then any associated assets will attract business property relief at 100%. This will mean that on death the full value of the assets will be exempt from Inheritance Tax. Similarly, any assets used by a company over which you have control or by a partnership in which you are a partner will attract business property relief at 50%. There are similar provisions for agricultural property.
What can be done to reduce my exposure to IHT?
1. The transfer of assets between spouses and civil partners benefit from an IHT exemption. Whilst this is a useful exemption there are other reliefs which are more valuable. Taking an overall view of your family's position, gifting assets to your spouse or civul partner is not all that beneficial as often your spouse will already have a joint share of the assets. Gifting your share will potentially increase your spouse or civil partner's exposure to IHT.
2. Gifts made during your lifetime are potentially exempt from IHT and there is no limit on the number or value of transfers that can be made during your lifetime. This is therefore an extremely valuable relief if you have assets within your estate that you do not require to keep in your estate during your lifetime.
3. If you do not wish to gift assets but do not wish control of assets to be passed over to the donees you can use a trust. In this case trustees would retain a degree of control over both the capital and income. The benefit of this route is that you can be a trustee and continue to have a degree of control over the asset but the asset will no longer be part of your estate. However it is possible that this route will involve some level of inheritance tax being payable but this depends on the type of trust used and the length of time that the assets are to remain within the trust.
4. If you have any life assurance policies you should ensure that they are assigned during your lifetime so that on death the policies do not form part of your estate.
We hope that you have found this guide useful. If you would like some further advice or assistance please contact us.
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