VinPetrol

Does anybody on here seriously have any ideas? Funny answers welcom'd, (cant beat em, join em) but any serious ideas would be appreciated, thaks in advance.

Petem95

I think most of the loopholes have been closed now. I think the best way to beat it is to pretty much slowely give away your stuff to those would will benefit before you die.

Freak

There are ways, but you have to do them well in advance

VinPetrol

what about houses, how does one get around that ?

Apparition

So long as you live on for about 7 years (I think), you can gift the house or sell it to the family for a quid. Check this out...... they keep moving the goal posts....... or... spend it before you die.
On another note, I've just discovered that my 80 yr old Mum has a cradit card with quite a lot spent on it. Just found out, if she were to depart this earthly coil, we as the family would not be liable for whatever she'd spent on it, nor could the company come after her estate for the dosh. So.... I've asked her if she'll buy me a nice shiney new Aston Martin on her card...............s'ok, she does have a sense of humour! Check out Martin Lewis's web site, all sorts of info on there.

kayeabl

What asset are you talking about in particular as there are methods of tax planning that can help with inheritance tax. Tax evasion is illegal, but avoidance through careful planning is not, although as was already commented on its getting harder as loopholes are closed and it is a fine line, and many cases are being dealt with outside statute.

I would recommend finding a good small tax practitioner, or accountants as this will save you money in the long run.

Cheers

Ash

VinPetrol

good idea, do NOT want the government takin 25% inheritance tax if the worst were to happen !!!! Rather do some good with it

Dieseldog

Couldn't find it on Google, but I recall a plan by Nicholas Van Hoogstraten to have his body interned in a mausoleum for 5000 years, at his place down in Uckfield. His estate would then be used for the upkeep of the property and so taxes could in some way be avoided.


Have you considered this?

Dieseldog

...apparently he got the idea off pslewis

hades

Standard get out, particularly for houses, is to set up a trust with life interest. In this case - for example - you gift your house to your kids, but with legal paperwork in place to say that you can continue to live there rent free until you die. The gift still incurs the 7 year rule, so don't die within 7 years of doing it!

Another thing to do is if you're a couple with assets of £300k+ (not rare these days), when one dies to give away up to the £263k (or whatever) tax free allowance to someone other than the spouse - again, kids or whatever. That way, you can use both halves of the couple's allowance. If you leave everything to the spouse, then they die, only their £263k allowance is any use.

Note that IIRC the "7 year gift" rule does leave you with a sliding scale of gradually decreasing tax liabilities as you near the end of the 7 year period, rather than being full whack throughout the 7 years

Final point, it is possible to get life insurance to cover the possible tax on the 7 year gift. That way, you give something major to the kids (either in trust with life interest or just a straight gift). They or you pay a monthly premium. If you die within the 7 years, the insurance covers the tax bill. If you don't die, you get nothing.

There was some quote that I'm struggling to remember about inheritence tax - went something like "it's a voluntary fee paid by people who mistrust their family more than they dislike the chancellor"

22BUK

Move to the Isle of Man - no inheritance tax there...

Tiggs

The Estate Planning firm I own does this.

Plenty of options still avalible......get a decent adviser (avarage accoountant or solicitor is pretty useless)

T (IHT guru)

22BUK

Does what, Tiggs? Moves all their clients to the Isle of Man?

Brother_Will

I believe the royal family get round this by puting the money in works of art not quite sure how this works but the paintings etc must then be viewable by the public (the royals seem to forget this bit)

David Lock

Simple example. When mother-in-law died her share of the house went automatically to father-in-law which would the
when have brought it into the IH band. So we drew up something called a Deed of Arrangment whereby mother-in-law effectively passed on her share of the house to my wife - obviously with father-in-law's agreement. Don't know if this is still allowed but it saved us a few bob. DL

Sorry this message is corrupting from sending reply to appearing as above?????

Rumplestiltskin!

Invest in a very good accountant/solicitor to sort this, well worth the money.
Not exactly sure what he has done, but my father has arranged all his & my mothers finances to ensure minumum inheritance tax liability to myself & my 2 brothers.
I know it involved putting our houses into trust but not sure what else has been done - get proper legal advise, very good advise will cost you a fraction of what you will save should the worst happen.

Ro.

Tiggs

IHT planning.....we do deed of variations, IOU schemes, Discretionary Will Trusts, Loan Trust, Discount Schemes, Revert to Settlor Trusts, etc, etc

lots of options.

T

ps....i have NEVER advised a client puts the house in the kids names though....dont assume the simple/obvious will work/is very clever.

Scooby Snacks 23

There was a very famous quote made in the House of Commons some years ago (although I can't remember who said it).

"Inheritence Tax is paid by those who distrust their beneficiaries more than they dislike the Inland Revenue".

fast bloke

If you put the house in the kids names and they (or their partner) becomes bankrupt you could quickly find yourself on the street. With enough careful planning, even fairly large estates can be IHT free. Every case is different, and a solicitor or accountant wouldn't usually do the job as well as someone who does nothing but IHT planning.

Tiggs

it was Labour Chancellor, Roy Jenkins: "IHT as a voluntary tax paid by those who distrust their relatives more than they hate the Inland Revenue"

heres another "IHT is a tax paid by those with too much money to escape it and not enough sense to seek advice upon it" Mr Tiggs, 2001

Tiggs

A fact proved by my companies client bank which has plenty of solicitors and accounts in it who get their IHT advice from us!

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Well worth having a read of http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/forum/

D

dsmith

Tiggs/Fast Bloke

Obviously a wide ranging subject thats hard to generalise...but can you give a few brief pointers to the sorts of thing that are/can be done.

its something my Family is discussing at the moment - but its hard to persuade my Dad (who's always done his own tax etc etc) that it would be best to seek outside advice.

The main thing being discussed is as mentioned above - i.e. half the house being left to a trust on the first death to use the IHT tax allowance.

Tiggs

If house is main issue and is worth over the Nil Band then the most simple solution is to use the Will.

in VERY SIMPLE TERMS...your folks (generic term...not specific advise for Mr and Mrs Smith Snr!) can put in their will that if one dies their share in the house will not go to the survivor (as is the norm) but instead will go to a trust created by the Will......however, the trust can pass that share to the surviovor in return for the promise of future repayent to the same value.

bottom line is survivor has the house (as they would want) but they now owe the trust £xxxxxx............when they are dead this debt reduces the estate.

this makes full use of both Mr and Mrs Nil Band without the threat of kids getting their hands on the house....very simple to do, we write a load of these.

T

ps. if their are other assets...PEPs ISAs, shares etc then there are other things to do as well.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

So how do you approach the crumblies about this delicate subject

F

PS Tiggs, any ideas on where to invest the new borns' trust fund £250?

Tiggs

we gave up trying and now run seminars to get clients.....that way the ones who want help come to us. We set up the company in an area with enough people in the IHT trap to ensure that even if we only saw a tiny % of them it was still enough.

£250?????.........£250k may get you some free advice!