Avoid inheritance tax
By Ian Robinson from
There are a number of ways of helping your heirs avoid having to pay inheritance tax altogether.
Spend it or give it away
One of the simplest things you can do to avoid paying inheritance tax (IHT) is to spend or give away part of your wealth during your lifetime.
There are several types of gift you can make during your lifetime that are completely free of inheritance tax.
Other gifts you make during your lifetime which don’t immediately fall into the tax-free list may become tax-free, providing you survive for seven years after making the gift. These are known as potentially exempt transfers or PETs. Most gifts you make to people (as opposed to trusts or companies) fall into the PET category.
Equity release
If all your wealth is tied up in your property, you may not be able to make use of gifts during your lifetime or spend your wealth on yourself. To get around this, some people take out an Equity Release Scheme
How equity release schemes work
With these schemes you can either borrow money against the value of your home (known as a lifetime mortgage), or sell part of your home at a reduced market rate, but remain living there throughout your life (a home reversion scheme).
The money you release can be passed onto your heirs and, providing you survive the gift by seven years, there will be no tax to pay. Of course, you can also always spend it on yourself.
When you die
When you die, the value of your estate will be reduced by the mortgage debt (with a lifetime mortgage) or because only part of the value of your home will still belong to your estate (with a home reversion).
Consult Thy Will Be Done’s Equity Release Specialist
If you do think equity release might be for you, we recommend that you consult Thy Will Be Done’s FCA regulated Equity Release Specialist to find out more.
Put life insurance policies under trust
If you have life insurance that you specifically want to be paid to your heirs after your death, then always put the policy under trust.
Policies under trust don’t count towards your estate when the IHT bill has to be worked out.
They can also be paid out before probate is granted, and can therefore get money quickly into the hands of your beneficiaries.
Deed of variation
A deed of variation allows your heirs to alter your Will after death so that, for example, part of the inheritance is re-directed to someone else.
They can draw up a deed of variation within two years of your death, but all beneficiaries under the will must agree to the variation.
Take out an insurance policy
If you can’t beat an IHT bill, you can insure against it. This is one of the simplest ways of covering an unwelcome bill, but unless you're relatively young and healthy, the cost may be high.
However, if it’s too expensive, you can get your children or heirs to pay the premiums – after all, they will be the ones to benefit from the insurance.
How does it work?
You take out an insurance policy called a ‘whole of life’ policy. If you are a couple, you should normally take out a policy that pays out when the second partner dies. The policy is written under trust for your heirs (see above). The insurance company will provide the trust form.
The idea is to take out a policy that will pay out enough to cover the IHT bill. Because the policy is written under trust, it's paid out free of inheritance tax and before probate is granted, so your heirs can pay the tax bill as soon as it’s due.
HMRC treats the premiums paid to the insurance policy as a lifetime gift if you pay them yourself, but these can usually be covered by one of the tax-free exemptions – either the annual £3,000 exemption or the ‘gifts out of normal income’ exemption.
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