Inheritance Tax Planning
Inheritance Tax planning usually involves you and your family in a carefully balanced, long-term approach and there are a number of legitimate means by which you can limit the amount of IHT liabilities due upon your death. At Ritchie Phillips, we deliver expert Inheritance Tax planning and accountancy advice based on our in depth understanding of the ever-changing rules and our decades of experience.
Inheritance Tax ("IHT") advice
Although IHT is still very much in the political headlines, at present, the main building blocks of inheritance planning remain as ever:
Assessing your personal wealth and ascertaining which assets qualify for either business property or agricultural property relief and which assets will ordinarily be liable to IHT at the rate of 40%
Lifetime giving, the objective of which is to set the seven-year clock running by making potentially exempt transfers
Efficient structuring of your Will, possibly with a view to creating a discretionary and/or a life interest trust
Using life assurance to provide liquid funds to pay any IHT due
The challenge is then to ensure that any IHT planning is compatible with the retention of sufficient financial resources to fund your lifestyle and needs in later life.
It is important to keep your inheritance planning under regular review to ensure that it is still tax compliant, effective and meets your goals, whether that is during your lifetime or for your loved ones after your death. Knowing that your loved ones or the causes that matter to you most will be provided for after you have gone brings with it important peace of mind.
If you would like to discuss inheritance planning and Inheritance Tax issues, please get in touch.