With current property price levels, more and more families are realising that they have a substantial liability to Inheritance Tax looming unless planning is put in place to mitigate this.
There are various ways to reduce the value of an Estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes and by careful use of Potentially Exempt Transfers, gifts out of income, the annual exemptions and the use of appropriate trusts, the burden of Inheritance Tax can be mitigated to a considerable extent and sometimes eliminated completely.
Most of the planning points above involve the gifting of assets. These gifts must be outright to be effective which may not be appropriate for all family circumstances.
It is however possible to reorganise family assets so that wealth is held within a specific class of assets that will become IHT free after only two years of ownership, due to Business Property Relief.
The press often mention that Inheritance Tax is a voluntary tax because there are so many planning opportunities to reduce this. However care must be taken due to the various anti-avoidance measures introduced over recent years.
Gritstone are well placed to provide a balanced, structured Inheritance Tax plan to meet a family’s needs on a long-term basis and to protect wealth down the generations.