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Inheritance tax.
Deed of variation
Much will be written on inheritance tax this week with the chancellor widely expected to make changes that effect it in the budget, its anticipated that the threshold will be changed. The Government have long promised a rise in the tax level to £1 million, if this is the case it must be welcomed, as in real terms the threshold has not kept pace with size of estates brought about mainly due to the rising property prices.
Inheritance tax, whilst a headline grabbing tax, it does bring in relatively little in comparison to other taxes, any changes will always bring derisory comments, which you may agree or disagree on depending on your social viewpoint.
Tax raised in different areas.
Inheritance Tax - £3.5 billion
Alcohol Tax - £10.5 billion
Vat - £105 billion
Proposed mansion Tax - £1.7 billion
There are many tools you can use to ensure you plan for the future of your beneficiaries, but we look at the 'deed of variation', which can be used to adapt a Will after the death of the individual to reduce inheritance tax, these are frequently used and notable cases have been reported recently about the Milibands use to reduce that tax payable on their parents estate, all very legitimate and should not be reported as some sort of tax avoidance black art, it is very sensible and very effective.
So what is a deed of variation? Well first it does not alter a will, it merely alters the way gifts are treated so that they are treated as 'made by the deceased' rather than the beneficiaries of the will, as this provision was written into the Inheritance Tax Act its intended use was for the reduction of Inheritance Tax, and if it is not used where it can be, then the advisor is not doing their job correctly.
Working example.
In the case of the Milibands, Mr Miliband died in 1994 and left all assets to Mrs Milliband, which at the time was quite a badly constructed will for the inheritance tax viewpoint.
Mrs Milliband was aware of this and used a deed of variation to leave a percentage of her property to the beneficiaries, thus using up her husband's Inheritance Tax allowances (at the time £150,000 and was not transferable between spouses)
Today Inheritance tax allowances are transferable so the deed may not be required, there are still many situations where the use of a deed of variation helps effective tax planning, the rule of thumb is to seek advice, to ensure you take full advantage of the legitimate tools available to reduce your tax or perhaps your beneficiaries tax.
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