Inheritance Tax Planning

Why give more tax than you need to? Without proper estate planning, individuals can end up leaving a substantial tax liability on their death, reducing the value of the estate they pass on to their beneficiaries.

Many people have seen the value of their assets increase in significantly in value over recent years, this has led to many more people being potentially liable to Inheritance Tax on their estates.

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced in the Autumn of 2007 that married couples/civil partners will be able to transfer any unused Inheritance Tax Nil-Rate band to the surviving spouse. Based on current values, this could allow married couples/civil partners to pass up to £650,000 to their beneficiaries free of Inheritance Tax. Whilst this is a welcome simplification of the current position we believe that there are still important measures that should still be taken even by couples with assets under the combined limit.

At Vale Insurance we offer a range of solutions to help reduce or cover any likely Inheritance Tax but still give you a degree of control of your assets. Our schemes can achieve the following benefits:

• Gift assets to your children/grandchildren but avoid them potentially being taken by a spouse/civil partner in any future divorce proceedings.
• Ensure you control any gifts if the beneficiary is not financially responsible enough to be given the funds outright.
• Allow you to retain full control of your capital whilst putting all future growth outside your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes.
• Retaining the right to an ‘income’ from your investments whilst putting the capital and future growth outside your estate.
• Making regular gifts which are immediately outside your estate (without the usual 7 year waiting period) – but still giving you the option to have the funds back at specified later dates.
• Covering the expected Inheritance Tax bill whilst allowing you to enjoy full access to your assets.