Make a Will

Sharing out your estate

Planning your finances in advance should help you ensure that when you die, everything you own goes where you want it to. Making a Will is the first step in ensuring that your estate is shared out exactly as you want it to be.

Inheritance Tax Calculator

How much Inheritance Tax could you potentially have to pay?

To estimate how much Inheritance Tax you may have to pay, add up the value of all your wealth, subtract your liabilities and the £325,000 nil rate band allowance, and then multiply the remainder by 40%.

Valuing your estate

Arriving at the amount of Inheritance Tax payable

To arrive at the amount of Inheritance Tax potentially payable when valuing your estate, you need to include assets (property, possessions, investments and money) you own and certain assets you have given away during the last seven years. The valuation must accurately reflect what those assets would reasonably receive in the current open market.

Getting the foundations right

The later you leave it, the more limited your options will be
Successful planning is dependent on getting the foundations right, and it is most effective when it is conducted early. The later you leave it, the more limited your options will be. Current rules mean that the survivor of a marriage or registered civil partnership can benefit from up to double the Inheritance Tax threshold – 650,000 in the current tax year, in addition to the entitlement to the full spouse relief.

Inheritance tax ‘Nil Rate Band’ and rates

Is it time to evaluate your estate?
We can help you evaluate the size of your estate—which could include assets such as property, pensions, shares and personal property—and identify the opportunities that will help you avoid or reduce the amount of Inheritance Tax your family will have to pay on your estate and enable you to preserve wealth for your dependants if the worst comes to the worst.

Inheritance Tax matters

Perhaps not quite the ‘voluntary’ tax it was once considered

Effective estate planning is about getting the right balance between maintaining access to your money when you need it and saving tax. This is because, in general, the more tax-efficient a solution is, the less access you have to your assets. Safeguarding your own financial future is very important and giving too much away could put this at risk.

Make the most of every available tax-planning opportunity

You’d better get your skates on with the end of tax year fast approaching

No one likes to pay more tax than they have to but one of the challenges of wealth is the high taxation it attracts. With real-terms tax increases the prospect for the foreseeable future the pressure is on to make the most of every available tax-planning opportunity.