How do you reduce the chance of paying inheritance tax?

Question

(short of my parent sgiving all their money to charity, lol). I'm not sure if I'll need to pay it as it'll be split between me and my brother but it's good to know my options just in case.

They got a will, done a couple of years ago, coz I know they want to avoid us paying it.

Answer 1

If you're in the UK, your best bet is to see an Independent Financial Advisor. Most of them wont charge you a fee for seeing them, but if you take out a policy through them, they will get commission from the policy (which you dont pay!), so essentially its free advice.

I used to work for one and vaguely remember some of the ways to avoid inheritance tax, but an IFA could tell you for definite.

you or your parents can take out a joint whole of life policy on their lives which will cover any inheritance tax liabilty.

or they can put the money in trust for you but i cant remember exactly how that works (again an IFA could help you with this)

or they can give you some of your inheritance each year before they die, but if they die within about 7 years of giving it to you you're still liable to pay some inheritance tax on it.

PS a will wont avoid you paying inheritance tax. I would definitely recommend seeing a financial advisor, check first if their advice is free - it often is, and they only get money if you take out an insurance policy

Answer 2

Your parents could spend all their money, thus leaving you nothing. Or they can gift it to you at least 5 years before they die. Or they could set up a limited company (say in property), invest all their money in it, draw out wages as directors of the company, then pass the directorship over to you when they die. But again this must be set up at least 5 years before they die.

You see, a directorship is not worth anything by itself, you just get a wage from the company. I'm already director of a couple of companies, but none of them are making any money at the moment, so aren't paying me a wage. So I pay no tax on them. Once they start making a good enough profit, I can then draw a wage, pay a wage to the investors (ie my parents) and avoid inheritance tax. Its slightly higher risk than just inheriting, but does mean I can then pass on directorships to my children etc, thus making sure I'm not actually worth anything when I die, but the companies are worth a lot. talk to an acoountant or a financial advisor about the full legal aspects of these ways, but there is a way around it.

Answer 3

The best way to do it is to put the money in a savings account in your name. My mom has done this and the government can't touch it. Mr grandma now lives in a nursing home and has to pay rent, she kept some of the money and has to pay rent but once it runs out the government pays it all. She sold her house and is living it up on the left over money, going on as many holidays as possible with the money she kept.

Let your parent (?) enjoy the last years of there life, they have certainly worked for it!

Someone said above just pay the tax, tax has already been paid on the inheritence. The money earned paid income tax and national insurance. My mom when she got inheritence had to pay capital gins tax of 26k instead in inheritance tax.

This country taxes too much, taxed on everything. We earn money and taxed on that, the money we spend we are taxed on, fuel, some food, entertainment. We earn to pay tax so the money we do actually save up for our kids shouldn't be taxed!!!!!

Answer 4

Parents can gift up to £3000 per year out of their capital and savings without any worries and more in the year that a child gets married. Gifts above this out of their capital can attract IHT if they die within seven years. Gifts out of normal income are also IHT free irrespective of how long they survive after making the gift, always provided the gift doesn't affect the parents' standard of living. None of this applies if the individual parent's estate is less than £285,000 as no IHT is then payable. If the joint estate exceeds this then parents should split it and then each make wills leaving the first £285,000 in trust for the children but allowing the surviving parent to use it in their life time. This means that two lots of £285,000 (a total of £570,000) can be given away free of IHT.

Answer 5

How the money is split ie between you and brother makes NO difference to the INHERITANCE tax because Inher. Tax is levied on the value of the estate irrespective of who the beneficiaries are. Get your parents to give you the money before they die and there will be no INH. tax on the gifts provided one of them lives for 7 years after that date.The above by no means gives the whole picture of a complicated subject, so consult an inh. tax expert.

Answer 6

enable bypass of the place Joe has lived for the final 50 years. previous is previous. If the will says that Joe gets the domicile, end OF tale. If the will says you all share and share alike, then it relatively is diverse. till there is a few thing materially incorrect with the domicile that stops it being offered, do no longer make investments any further money into it. that's clean that Dad isn't coming domicile from the assisted dwelling center and did no longer depart any training to spend his money to replace the domicile. Edit: If Joe gets the domicile, then Joe desires to foot the completed $20K maintenance himself.

Answer 7

there is no way, the tax will be taken out of the property/ worth of the estate. This will be handled by the solictor, the only way to aviod it is if your parents sell the estate, becuase you only pay inheritance tax on anything over 300K in value.

Answer 8

You have a few options here...
1, Keep your parents on a ventilator machine
2 ,Make them spend it before they go
3, you spend it as soon as they go.
4.Get them to leave it to your brother then it is his problem.
Seriously though, having your parents alive and well is worth more than any inheritence....

Answer 9

set up a family trust and have you and your brother as benefiaciaries of the trust. What you have to pay is the tax on your personal income when you receive the fund

Answer 10

Ask your parents to spend their money on having a good time before they die. You might be left less money, but will pay less tax