“With careful forward planning the burden of inheritance tax can be reduced or avoided.”

With rising house prices, the general level of prosperity, more and more of us are now effected by Inheritance Tax. The very low increases in the nil rate band exemptions do little in real terms to reduce the burden of this tax.

We have a multi disciplinary team comprising not only solicitors but also members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. Our talented team can advise on avoidance and mitigation of this tax by:

• setting up complex Wills structures to include discretionary and property trusts
• advising on lifetime gifts either to trusts or individuals
• ensuring use is being made of the annual exemptions, in particular the regular gifts out of surplus income
• the use of retail products as tools for inheritance tax planning

We also advise:

• personal representatives and trustees on their obligations, now even more onerous for trustees following the changes introduced in the Finance Act 2006
• on the efficacy of past arrangements and whether they offend the anti avoidance gifts with reservation of benefits rules, or even fall within the ambit of the Pre-owned Assets Tax
• whether either or both of the generous Agricultural Property and Business Property Reliefs will help to reduce the burden
• on the benefits of deeds of variation to improve the inheritance tax position both immediately and in the long term securing greater inheritances for your beneficiaries

We can also coordinate a holistic approach to tax planning generally by ensuring that your financial adviser is involved, opening up other regulated options such as funding for inheritance tax through a life policy, purchasing discounted gift trusts, AIM (Alternative Investment Market) portfolios or perhaps equity release products to assist in the mitigation of inheritance tax.