Inheritance Tax. Reduce Your
Family's Liability using Discretionary Trusts, Insurance and Other
Means. Develop an Effective IHT Strategy.
Inheritance Tax could to be one of the biggest liabilities your
family is ever likely to face, if you have assets over £325,000 or
£650,000 for married couples and couples living within a civil
partnership. (If you fail to plan for
Inheritance Tax your family may have to sell the family home to fund
the bill.)
You have worked hard all of your life to build up a legacy for your
family but without effective planning your family could
lose 40% of the wealth you have built up above the value of £325,000
for a single person and £650,000 for a married couple.
If you've saved up a considerable amount, you might not expect that
your family would struggle financially in the future. However, the
high cost of inheritance tax can mean that many families still sign
up for
Aviva equity release or take out a second mortgage in
order to make sure they remain financially stable. This is certainly
worth considering making arrangements which can avoid such
circumstances.
The choice is simple plan and give the money to your kids or other
family members, don't
plan and give your money to the taxman.
The Choice is Yours Give the Money to the
Taxman or to Your Kids!
If you are single or cohabiting use our calculator to calculate your Inheritance Tax liability, why
not try our
free Inheritance tax calculator by clicking here
Current UK legislation (as of April 2010) allows for the first
£325,000 of your estate to be taxed at zero percent, the Nil Rate
Band (NRB) threshold.
If you are a
married couple or a same sex civil partnership you can pass all
assets freely to your spouse on your death, but this is not the most tax
efficient way of ensuring your spouse is cared for.
As part of the
pre budget speech in October 2007 The Chancellor announced that
married couples and couples in civil partnerships can transfer the
nil rate band or the unused portion of the NRB to a surviving partner
after second death.
If you are a couple
cohabiting or
living together, there is
no spousal relief from Inheritance Tax, this means that all of your
partners assets over £325,000 will be subject to the 40% tax. This
40% is money you, if you were the beneficiary of their Will would
not get. There is also no right to transfer the nil rate band.
This puts you at a severe disadvantage and as a recent National
Consumer Council reports says also potentially puts you in the highest group at
risk through not having a valid Will.
£325,000 may seem like a great deal of money, but with the average
house price in the south of England being £258,620 and the average
price of a detached house in Buckinghamshire being £411,189, you
really need to think if your tax liability is going to be a problem
for your family after you have gone.
If you are an unmarried couple
cohabiting urgent consideration needs to be given to your
Inheritance Tax Liability as unmarried couples do not benefit from
spousal exemption like married couples and couples living in a
formally recognised civil partnership,
(see this link for
more details).
If you do have assets over £650,000, including the value of your
home, life insurance, death in service benefits, the value of
foreign property owned, stocks, shares and other investments, we can
usually still reduce or eliminate your Inheritance Tax liability in
combination with our other partners.
Many people also undertook NRB planning prior to
the changes in married couples rights to transfer unused portion of
the inheritance tax allowance on death and are unsure what effect their
current Wills may have. It may be possible to update or renew
existing Nil Rate band Wills to offer additional protection against
potential long term care costs.
If you still have concerns about
inheritance tax or your current Wills, or you would like to understand
how you can now protect significant portions of your assets against
care costs please give us a call to arrange a free consultation.
We are a specialist
UK Will Writer and because of this we understand your needs and
can help to provide solutions that truly fit thhose needs. |
