Brendan Hughes

That'll pee the Tories right off...

pslewis

You have got to hand it to New Labour ..... they are good, very good.

Hint on an election, see what the Tories offer, then match it - absolutely beautiful .....

Whatever your political leanings it's got to be admired. I doubt the Tories will ever see power again .....

dpb

They will when they realise quite how desperate Flash is to stay in the hot seat

Dracoro

Or the alternative viewpoint:

You have got to hand it to the Tories..... they are good, very good.

Play up on an imminient election, force Gordon to play his hand, he can only call en election or give the voters what they want (i.e admit that the tories are right and implement some tory policies)- absolutely beautiful .....

Whatever your political leanings it's got to be admired. The Tories get their policies implemented without even having to win an election. Now THAT's clever!

***Nemesis***

Well sort of - each half of a married couple already has a £300K allowance.

All Labour appear to have done is make this £300K allowance transferable to the surviving spouse which does simplify planning and will help those who haven't had proper advice but clued up couples have already adopted ways to make sure they have a combined allowance of £600K.

I await the technical details with interest.

The Snug Rhino

IHT has not budged. It was always £300k and any couple with half a brain would have their Wills done in such a way that they got to use both nil bands already.....and we knew it was going up to £312 then £325 so a raise to £350 in 2010 (giving the £700k amount) is in line with that.

The only people with a big improvement are widows and widowers who never did Will planning prior to becoming the survivor.

About 2% of my clients will have saved money as a result of this (although its fair to say its now a simpler procedure than before)

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Its still the usual spin, appear to give people what the want, when in fact you have done nothing at all. Still cannot believe the news is even reporting it as news. All it has done is make tax planning a little easier, thats it.

(not to mention all the PC brigade flak for only making it for married couples)

The Snug Rhino

what is interesting is that the amount the SURVIVING spouse can use of the dead spouses nil band is proprtaioal to the amount used on the 1st death.

so you DONT want to leave money to anyone but the spouse on 1st death and then they get 100% of your nil band at the FUTURE rate that aplpies when THEY did.

So Bob dies in 2007 and leaves £150k to his kids -he has used 50% of his NRB. His wife dies 20 years later when the NRB is now £600k.....she can only add on £300k being the 50% Bob didn't use (giving her £900k in total)

Better that Bob gives her ALL the assets (and 100% of his NRB) so she can use 100% X 2 when she dies in the future.....if Bob WANTS to give cash to the kids then leave it to his wife and have HER give it just after his death. She has now made a 7 year gift and when she dies in 20 years time she will have no liability to IHt on that gift AND a massive NRB.

So new advice is DONT have a fancy Will - give it ALL to your spouse and dont go leaving anything on 1st death elsewhere as you are, in effect, wasting some allowance!

fast bloke

Is this a Gordon attempt to undo lots of the clever planning people have been carrying out over the past years. I haven't looked into the detail of this yet, but I can see lots of scenarios where previous attempts to maximise the nil band have now been undone

pslewis

When you're dead - you're dead ..... you came in with nowt, you leave with nowt.

The money you collected during a lifetime was given by the government for your use throughout your life - they are simply collecting it all back again to use it again.

If you want another slant on it.

TopBanana

That only applies if you're
a) on benefits
b) a communist b*****d

The Snug Rhino

It will have that effect - IHT efficient Wills are now nothing more than over complex wastes of paper (although they will still work of course)

I would expect most of my clients will alter such wills to far more simple versions (if only because i dont charge for any will writing)

The ones who need to be careful are those that were being "clever" by giving away the nil band on 1st death to someone other than the spouse.......a good idea yesterday but a bad one now as they are better of letting the spouse get 100% of the INFLATED nil band when they die in the future.

Bottom line - leave all to spouse.

pslewis

The money comes from the Bank of England ............. whether it's paid in benefits or wages

mrtheedge2u2

Pete, I have worked my **** off all my life and paid a fortune in tax... why on earth should GB take it off my surving family should I die????

The Snug Rhino

Is your estate far above £600k?

Dracoro

Most our clients are international so most the money that I earn comes from outside the UK and I'm bringing it in. Maybe my inheritance should go to the US govt, NOT the UK one!!

mrtheedge2u2

Yes it is.... so Pete, I am employed by the Bank of England????

The bricks from my house come from a builder... will he want them back when I am dead also?

pslewis

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying he should ..... I'm just putting the other point of view.

We have no money when we enter the world - the government gives money for labour - we are looked after via our taxes from cradle to grave - it could be argued that the Government takes it back to recycle it through the next generation ...... depending upon that next generations contribution to the country they then occupy.

I will leave a lot to my offspring as I can - I'm simply playing devils advocate here. Don't shoot me for giving an alternative view (even though I may not hold that view myself).

Diesel

COMPLETELY! My dad has worked so hard all his life, taken NOTHING and paid tax in his life. I too am the same. SO when it comes to dad handing over the family house (the happy one that I grew up in) to me, I should NOT have to sell it to a stranger in order to be able to pay the tax. Same goes for my kids - I'm working on this one so they have a nice home one day.

Slavery HAS been abolished as far as I knew, and what you work for, pay tax on (even VAT on the bricks that built the house, and NI for those that lay the bricks) SHOULD go to the kids as a birthright, rather than a potential golden Gordon Goose to be milked (if you forgive the metaphor mix). Pathetic it needed the Tories to explain that to 'all for the hard workers' Labour.

I now have utter disdain & disgust for their shallow electioneering and posturing. And I thought spin and PR was dead with Tony? This dry sober tw@at is worse - he PRETENDS to be real and he's just a timid job protectioneer without any feeling for public opinion or what people really want - the government off their back, out of their wallet, out of the sneaky tax closet and less than 10 new offences/rules/fines invented every day.

Anyway, thanks to the Tories for taking IHT out of my life and not making me have another awkward chat with my lovely, hard working parents, Credit where it is due - thanks Cameron.

D

mrtheedge2u2

I am looking forward to the day New labour announce the end of pensions etc and then I will be straight to my lawyer demanding they start legal process to obtain every penny I have paid up untill that point which was destined for my pension....

MartinM

My M-I-L passed away (RIP) in late August. Her husband pre-deceased her by 12 years. The probate hasn't been settled yet.

Any idea if the new rules would apply to her estate - would be handy....even though we'd all rather she was still here, of course

douglasb

So despite the "IHT threshold up" headline, these sisters won't have benefitted at all as they are not lesbians. Neither will any single people have benefitted.

But Gordon is a refreshing change from spin over substance, isn't he? .......

The Snug Rhino

Martin - only applies to deaths as of 9th Oct 2007......so no, it wont apply.


The "IHT doubled" headlines are nonsense, gov spins the truth then media spins the spin....by the time the public hear it they may as well get the info from their dog.

Diesel

Yes he is! He adds underhand, uningeniuous, unimaginative, out of touch and 'sly b@stard' to the mix. Comendable traits - if that is your bag...

What a dissapointment of a tw@t.

D