When considering any type of tax planning and in particular Inheritance planning it is important to ensure that you do not give too much away too quickly. You have worked hard to accumulate your savings and assets. When looking at gifts, ensuring that you have enough funds to maintain your lifestyle is the number one priority.
You may also wish to consider your future needs including care home costs or going on that once in a lifetime holiday that you have always dreamed of.
However, if you do want to make plans to minimise the impact of inheritance tax on your estate the main factor is not complexity but thinking far enough in advance to allow time to use the exemptions and reliefs available and to establish a pattern of gifting, and to take into consideration the seven year survival period for gifts.
Business Succession
One of the most important parts of estate planning is ensuring that your Will reflects what you want to do, and who you wish to receive gifts from your estate.
If you are in business whether as a sole trader, partnership or limited company it is vitally important that the Will provides for the continuance of your business, giving your executors power to run your business until it is taken over or sold, particularly if you have employees.
If you have partnership or shareholders agreements these agreements must reflect the provisions in your Will. If there are contradictions misunderstandings can arise and the business may falter.
To achieve this, we will work closely with your solicitors when they are drafting your Will to ensure that all the business aspects are taken into consideration.
What can we do to help?
- Assist you in considering your overall objectives for the short, medium and long term.
- Review your income needs and consider how any gift of assets will impact on your income sources.
- Review your assets and consider the tax implications of gifting your assets not just from an Inheritance Tax point of view. We will review the position for capital gains tax and stamp duty too.
- Review lifetime gifts and allocation of any relevant exemptions and reliefs.
- Advise on succession planning and passing your wealth to future generations.
- Review the estate and liaise with your solicitor to ensure that your Will matches your wishes.
- Review eligibility for agricultural and business property reliefs and assist you with structuring your farming business to ensure that the criteria is met.
- Regular update meetings to ensure that any change in circumstances is taken into consideration.
- Planning in respect of the family home.
- Advise on setting up of trusts and tax implications.