Under the current rules, no IHT is charged on the first £325,000 of your estate, and this can be increased to £625,000 for married couples. Above this amount, anything you leave behind is taxed at 40% (or 36% if you choose to leave more than 10% of your wealth to charity).
Under new rules being phased in from 2017 (the ‘main residence’ allowance), you can pass on your main residence to their children, stepchildren or grandchildren to further increase the nil IHT band. By 2020 this will mean that if you own a property worth up to £1million you’ll be able to leave it to your dependants completely free of IHT.
IHT for business owners
IHT is something that business owners should review as part of their overall personal tax planning. While we all hope to have long and healthy lives, the unexpected can happen. The lack of a will or structured IHT mitigation plan can result in tens of thousands of pounds being paid to the government.
Through our Barrister Intermediary membership of the Legal Services Guild, we’ll assist you directly with a number of legal services such as Wills, Trusts and Legacy Planning, or with business matters such as Shareholder Agreements.
Just email or call our team on 0131 220 0152 for a chat about how we can help you with your IHT and Estate planning.
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We are a team of award winning Chartered Management Accountants based in Edinburgh. We are cloud accounting and tax specialists helping businesses and contractors in the technology and food & drink sectors across Edinburgh and the Lothians. Your Tech-Savvy Edinburgh Accountants since 2007.
