7 Ways To Beat The Taxman When You Die

7 Ways To Beat The Taxman When You Die

The directors of Will Drafters Ltd, David Crossland and Michelle Hanover, here give you some pointers on how to make sure you don’t leave anything to the taxman when you die:

David: "First, we need to emphasise that we recommend you speak to an independent financial adviser before taking any action. Having said that, OK Michelle, you start first".

Michelle: "In simple terms, anything you leave to your legally married spouse is free of inheritance tax. Anything else is taxed at 40% for the whole amount exceeding £275,000".

David: "You can make any number of gifts to different people up to a value of £250 each in any tax year".

Michelle: "And, each person before their death, can give away up to £3,000pa".

David: "In addition, parents can make wedding gifts of up to £5,000 to each of their children. And grandparents can also make gifts of up to £2,500 to each marrying grandchild. Also, you can give up to £1,000 as a wedding gift to anyone else. The gifts must be made before the wedding day, not after".

Michelle: "If you give anything else away before your death then you need to live at least 7 years thereafter. If you die during the 7-year period the amount of Inheritance Tax payable reduces the longer the time after the gift has been made".

David: "Gifts to charity in your Will are also included as an additional allowance. Therefore, if a person was worth £300,000 but had gifted £45,000 to charity the taxman would get nothing".

Michelle: "There are other things you can do involving trusts but this is where an IFA can best advise".

Will Drafters offer a convenient Wills-by-phone service and have written over 80,000 Wills since the two directors founded it in 1990.

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