Inheritance tax

[maximus]

Has anyone ever used their accountants for estate tax planning or tax advice outside of freelancing - or is it a specialist subject
If so what qualifications should one look for ?

[Bradley]

Simple

Has anyone ever used their accountants for estate tax planning or tax advice outside of freelancing - or is it a specialist subject
If so what qualifications should one look for ?

No planning required - just get a life insurance policy to pay any inheritance tax when you die.

[ASB]

As Bradley says you can insure, but premiums can be high because it is an inevitibility. Whole life policies are sometimes used for this.

A couple of thing you can investigate which may mitigate the bill:-

1) If you have a partner and some property being joint tenants rather than tenants in common can help.

2) Any life policies etc should be written in trust.

3) Leave assets beyond your partner if possible, allowing partner a life interest through a will trust. [There may have been some changes here recently though]

A good solicitor should be pretty clued up on estate planning. Sort it out when you make your will.

[maximus]

Tax

Thanks for the replies.. but the IT is inbound -i.e. sole remaining elderly parent with terminal disease & a large estate - some tax planning done 15 years ago - gifting etc. but what remains is still substantial.

It sounds morbid - but I really want to minimise Gordon's take on the estate hence the need for specialist advice

[ASB]

As you say, specialist advice is needed. It seems about the only thing you can do is try and ascertain the cost of care etc for the remaining lifespan. Get them to gift the excess to the heirs now and hope they make 7 years (or at least enough of the time for the take on gift with reservation to at least drop a bit - i.e. get a portion out of the estate for tax purposes at the time of death).

There may be some fairly creative things that can be done with a trust. Possibly even dispersing most of the assets into an insurance which is generating income currently paying the relative until their death. Unfortunately now anything that finds it way back to the donow does tend to make the IHTp plannig fail.

The sort of advice you need it going to cost.

[Mailman]

IHT is an insidius tax where you are being charged a second time for tax already paid to this government! I always thought double dipping was illegal...but it transpires its only illegal if you arent the government!

Mailman

[ASB]

IHT is an insidius tax where you are being charged a second time for tax already paid to this government! I always thought double dipping was illegal...but it transpires its only illegal if you arent the government!

Mailman

But where is the difference between, say IHT and tax paid on savings? They are saved out of post tax income (in theory anyway).

Fact is the treasury need the cash. Get rid of IHT and they'd only have to raise it from elsewhere. (Current lot rake in rather a lot of IHT Now of course. About a four fold increase I believe).

[Sergeant Apone]

Inheritance Tax receipts for 2004/05 were £2.1907 billion, which was an increase of 16% from 2003/04.

[ASB]

Fairy snuff,

I was referring to change from 96-97 (for no other reason than to Blame GB of course). Even so according the graph it's a much lower increas than I believed.

[Sergeant Apone]

Looks like by the end of 2005/06 it will have about doubled since 1996/97 and up six-fold or so since 1978/79.