Overwhelming Majority Of People Want To See Inheritance Tax Scrapped

INHERITANCE Tax (IHT) needs to be scrapped completely according to an overwhelming number of residents in the Wokingham and Reading areas, a new survey has revealed.

Some 90% of residents who were polled said that IHT was “unfair” and should no longer be imposed on the British public. The remaining 10% believe it is a “necessary” tax providing much needed funds for public services.

The research was carried out by Wokingham-based Family Estate Planning as the Government considers far-reaching changes to what is often considered to be Britain’s most hated tax.

Andy Pulford, Family Estate Planning director, said: “The results of our survey are unequivocal – people want to see the back of Inheritance Tax.

“It’s an emotive subject because the tax is levied when someone has died. Many people feel strongly that the assets in a person’s estate should not be taxed further as they’ve already been taxed enough during that person’s lifetime.

“Whatever your feelings on the issue, IHT is here to stay for now so it’s important that you plan ahead if you want to reduce the amount your estate pays when the time comes.”

Raft Of Changes

The Office of Tax Simplification is currently looking a raft of changes to IHT, including reducing the time it takes for a gift to become tax free and removing taper relief – the sliding scale of tax levied on gifts.

Andy continued: “There are many ways you can cut your IHT bill, and in some cases remove any liability altogether.

“But many people are unaware of even some of the basic steps they can take to mitigate against a future IHT charge.”

These include making use of the standard annual exemptions which enable to you to gift a certain amount of cash tax free, and Potentially Exempt Transfers (PETs) which cover much larger sums of money. These options our covered in more detail in our guide to mitigating Inheritance Tax.

Family Estate Planning offers a wide range of estate planning services, including Trusts, Powers of Attorney and IHT planning and mitigation, to the people of Wokingham and surrounding areas.

Family Estate Planning can advise on all aspects of estate and financial planning, including Will writing, Trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Inheritance Tax mitigation. Please email contact@familyestateplanning.co.uk or call Andy on 07984 013533 for an informal chat.