Estate Planning
We can provide expert guidance on estate planning. Assisting you to plan in the most tax efficient way and helping you reduce your tax liabilities in all aspects of your life.
After having worked hard to build up your estate, it is important that you have a solid plan in place. This means you can pass on that wealth to the people you care about and minimise the amount of tax you pay.
As a consequence of increasing property prices more people than before have found themselves becoming liable for Inheritance Tax. If your estate is over the allowance (currently £325,000) when you die, it will be subject to a tax, known as Inheritance Tax (IHT). Unused residential Nil Rate Band (NRB) can also be transferred to a spouse.
On Bereavement
Investments which form part of a deceased's estate are re-valued at the date of death, so if they are sold there will be no capital gains tax to pay on any profits arising up to the date of death.
Residence Nil Rate Band
Each eligible individual can claim an additional inheritance tax allowance of £175,000 (tax year 2024/25), (reducing by £1 for every £2 that an estate exceeds £2,000,000) to offset the value of a family home on death, on top of their existing £325,000 inheritance tax exemption. This tax allowance is set to £175,000 in 2024/25 and thereafter should increase with inflation each tax year. It can only be claimed where a main residence is passing to direct descendants on death and the amount can't exceed the property value.
Reduce your Liability
There are a wide range of investment products which are acceptable to HM Revenue and Customs and which enable investors to reduce their potential liability to either income tax or IHT or both.
Pension scheme members can also reduce their family's liability to IHT on the value of the member's death benefits by leaving the funds within a pension wrapper (beneficiary's flexi-access drawdown) or having a lump sum paid to a bypass trust.
Ultimately, financial planning will focus on what happens to the estate when you are no longer around. We can help by talking to you about the importance of making a will and the basics of IHT. Should you then wish to find out more about estate planning and IHT we can arrange an initial discussion.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Estate Planning.