Inheritance Tax

Do you know ……..

The first £325,000 (the nil rate band allowance for year 2010/2011) of assets you own will be free of IHT to pass to your beneficiaries. Any assets left in your estate in excess of this amount can be charged at 40%.

Under the new Transferable Nil Rate Band legislation introduced in Oct 2007 married couples and civil partners can pass on a combined total of £650,000 without incurring an IHT liability.

However for an application to be successful you need to be prepared;
In order to gain benefit from this transfer of assets your claim would need to be supported by all relevant documents, including your original Will, any Codicils or Deed of Variation, a copy of the Grant of Probate, death certificate, tax documents and details of any gifts that may have been given out of the first deceased estate in order to prove what IHT allowance may already have been used up.

There are many ways in which your IHT liability can be reduced.
Some of the options that Christie Munro would discuss with you to reduce or avoid IHT entirely are: