Wealth preservation

A recent survey about Inheritance Tax (IHT)[1] shows that wealthy Britons over the age of 45 are either ignoring estate planning solutions or they have forgotten about the benefits these can provide. Only 27% of those surveyed have taken financial advice on IHT planning, despite all of them having a potential IHT liability.

60% of people surveyed want to leave assets to their spouse or registered civil partner, and 29% would like to leave an inheritance to younger relatives such as nieces, nephews and grandchildren, but the largest single beneficiary from people’s estates is still HMRC. To highlight this point, HMRC revealed they received IHT payments to the value of £4,670,000,000 (that’s £4.67 billion) in the 2015/16 tax year alone.

How much could your estate pay?

The level of IHT your estate will pay depends on the amount your estate is worth and the tax allowances in place at the time. The current IHT allowance of £325,000 is set to remain level until 5 April 2021. Yo