For future
Introduction
Passing on your assets according to your wishes, while leaving more of your estate to your loved ones.
When you have worked hard to build a comfortable life for your family, the idea of passing a significant proportion of your wealth to HMRC is unlikely to appeal.
The purpose of an estate plan is to pass on your assets according to your wishes, while minimising the amount of tax payable. This means that you have more control over the process and more of your estate will go to your loved ones.
Of course, there are other factors to consider, as the most tax-efficient options are often the least flexible. Putting money out of your reach might save on tax, but it could also leave you short of funds in later life, particularly if you need to pay for care. We can help you to balance these priorities and create an estate plan that works for you.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Tax, Trusts, Estate and Cashflow Planning.
Client Story
We recently finalised over three years of planning with a client that will significantly reduce his long-term inheritance tax liability.
Our starting point was the client’s cash flow analysis and meaningful discussions around what was important to him. The cash flow demonstrated, amongst a range of other planning areas, that he had an inheritance tax liability that was not only sizeable now, but likely to grow in the future. Our cash flow not only highlighted the issue but also allowed us to test the impact of a range of different strategies, making sure we never tipped the balance of impacting our client’s lifetime needs.
We were able to make a real impact not only to the long term inheritance tax liability but also the life of the client’s family.
People buy from people, and people like buying from people they like! Smith & Pinching have that special knack of employing very amiable people who are experts in their field and are a pleasure to deal with. After being a very happy customer for more than 30 years, I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Mike, Norfolk
Our Approach
A good estate plan may also include one or more of the following:
Gifts
Making gifts during your lifetime can help to reduce the value of your estate, as well as providing an immediate benefit to your family. Some gifts will drop out of your estate immediately, while others will factor into your IHT calculation for seven years. We can help you make decisions around how much to give away, how often, and where the money should be taken from.
Trusts
Trusts can also allow you to reduce the value of your estate, as well as keeping some control of your money and protecting your legacy for your beneficiaries. There are several different types of trust, with varying degrees of flexibility and tax efficiency. We can advise you on choosing the right trust and managing the trust fund effectively.
Insurance
Sometimes the best option is not to reduce the value of your estate, but to ensure there is cash available to pay the potential tax bill. We can advise you on the best insurance plan, as well as a suitable trust, to achieve this. This means that you don’t need to worry about spending your money, as there will be a pot set aside for your beneficiaries.
Tax-Efficient Investing
Business owners can claim business relief providing an IHT exemption of up to 100% on business assets after two years. But did you know that private investors can also benefit from business relief, although such investment strategies are high risk, and not suitable for everyone, but we can offer advice on whether such investments should form part of your estate plan.
Discover more
Download our guide: A Short Guide to Estate Planning
Explore some of the main rules about inheritance tax and principles about how to prepare a tax-efficient estate.
