George Osborne has used this year’s Autumn Statement to announce a further hardening of the UK Government’s stance against offshore tax evasion, with a particular focus on tax avoidance promoters, and, for the first time, inheritance tax (IHT).
Old Mutual Wealth is urging advisers with non-domiciled clients in the UK to take steps to protect their assets from IHT, in case changes to the domicile rules come into effect.
UK prime minister David Cameron has raised the prospect of increasing the nil rate band for inheritance tax in the government’s final Budget before the next general election, which has been welcomed by international life industry tax experts.
HM Revenue & Customs has denied claims it plans to collect IHT from an estate before the individual has died.
Inheritance tax paid to the UK Government jumped by nearly 10% in the last year, as the amount levied from estates reached £3.4bn.
More than half a billion pounds is set to be wasted this year in inheritance tax as individuals fail to place their life protection policies “under trust”.
IOMA has expanded its sales function to enable access to a wider range of products across life, pensions and investments.
Skandia has said that while HM Revenue & Customs prevented a mass headache by leaving existing trusts out of its proposed reforms to the calculation of inheritance tax, it will create thousands of new demands for financial advice.
A leading tax specialist has described recent proposals by HM Revenue & Customs to crack down on inheritance tax avoidance as the latest in a series of assaults which may lead to the ultimate demise of trusts.
HM Revenue & Customs has proposed a limit to the amount an individual can transfer into a series of trusts tax free, in its latest attempt to crack down on the use of multiple trusts to avoid inheritance tax (IHT).
IOMA has broadened its product range with the introduction of an estate planning tool designed to regulate the distribution of client wealth to child beneficiaries.
Trusts are the standard way to pass down family wealth to future generations. But recent tax changes mean that family investment companies may offer a more tax-efficient option, says Grant Thornton’s Emma Hunt.
