Inheritance tax (IHT) planning is one of the most emotive areas of our work with clients. Very often IHT is seen as a form of double taxation, since the individual will have already paid either income tax or capital gains tax on their assets, which then suffer IHT on death.
Gifting assets during lifetime is usually regarded as one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce the value of your estate, but gifts do reduce the available lifetime exemption if made within 7 years of death. (more…)