Inheritance Tax is paid if a person’s estate (their property, money and possessions) is worth more than the Inheritance Tax threshold when they die.
The current threshold to which you must pay 40% tax is currently £325,000 (fixed until 2016) for a single person or for people who are married, in a civil partnership or widowed, the threshold for Inheritance Tax is currently £650,000 between them . So, in the worst case situation, if your estate (everything you owned at the time of death, including your house value) was, say, £425,000 then you would have a taxable estate of £100,000. This would give rise to a tax bill of £40,000. £40,000 less going to your loved ones.
The rules involved in inheritance tax are complex and it is for this reason alone it is important to discuss your situation with us, as only then will you be able to understand its potential effects on you, whether your loved ones will lose out on some of their inheritance and, more importantly, what can be done through us to reduce or even eliminate its effects.