Changing of the guard

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2022 • 5 min read

Changing of the guard

I know that football isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it often provides useful metaphors. Whether you love or loathe it, I suspect that you have heard the name Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the sport’s true superstars, with a career that has made him extraordinarily wealthy as his prolific goalscoring has resulted in team successes and trophies. At the age of 37 he is representing Portugal at his fifth World Cup (starting in 2006). His latest contract pays him £26m a year.

Yet on Tuesday evening, he was left ‘on the bench’ and watched as his team beat the Swiss 6-1 with a hat-trick from his replacement, Ramos some 20 years his junior. Few of us will contemplate retirement at 37, but in sporting terms, that is ‘getting on a bit’. Ronaldo and his many millions of admirers will have mixed feelings about seeing someone else take centre stage and provide an extremely good performance that threatens the possibility of Ronaldo’s normally guaranteed place in the starting line-up for the next match against Morocco on Saturday for a place in the semi-final. Those who know football, will observe that this is a normal experience for all players but rare for the superstars of the sport, but something that Ronaldo has only recently begun to experience at his club (or no longer his club).

PLAN, PURPOSE, PREPARATION

There is no obvious way to prepare for retirement, for some it is a very sudden change of pace and evokes questions about purpose and meaning, for others there is a sense of relief, as though a great burden has been lifted. A recent webinar presented by researchers from academia, has found that most retirees are not very well prepared for the transition. Whilst finance and having enough money is a significant element of retirement, it certainly isn’t the sole consideration.

Researchers found that most people do not consider how a change in health may create problems where they live, if they are unable to drive, use public transport or have a hospital reasonably nearby. They also pointed to the underappreciation of social contact and community and how a once pleasant ‘get away from it all’ location becomes increasingly isolated from valuable personal connection.

One question that seems to be understood and answered differently in different countries is “when does middle age end? And when does old age begin?”. This reminded me of a clip that I saw recently in which it was argued ‘middle aged’ is between 35-50, being typically the mid-point in most people’s lives…

65 IS THE NEW 45…

Often, we hear “you are as old as you feel” I’m not convinced by that, but I do think having connections, community involvement, friends and family all help make life invigorated and outward looking. Pop star, material girl, Madonna will turn 65 in August 2023 (next summer) and if she had been a UK resident for long enough, paying her NI, would be eligible for her State Pension in 2024.

As for people who have already turned 65 in 2022 – Stephen Fry, Jo Brand, Nick Faldo, Jayne Torvill, Frank Skinner, Timothy Spall, Daniel Day Lewis, Siouxise Sioux, Fern Britton, Dawn French, Billy Bragg and Steve Davis are all part of the cohort that will collect their State Pension at 66 in 2023. As for Ronaldo, if he was eligible to claim a UK State Pension, under current rules he could do so when he is 68, which is in 2053, some thirty years time during which he would see a further seven World Cup tournaments.

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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Changing of the guardJemima Thomas2025-01-21T15:50:46+00:00

Getting enough state pension?

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2022 • 12 min read

Are you getting enough state pension?

This item is relevant to women aged at least 69 and men 71 or older.

The State Pension is regularly in the news, yet it is widely misunderstood. It has not helped that Government policy over the decades has altered it considerably as society has changed, both in terms of equality and longevity. As a result there are layers to the State Pension, not everyone gets the same amount.

In recent years it came to light that some pensioners had not been receiving what they were due. According to the DWP this dates back at least as far as 1985. Initially in March last year the DWP estimated that about 134,000 pensioners had been underpaid, but by July this year the figure rose to 237,000 with underpayments worth about £1.4bn.

The main challenge is accurately assessing all the data and making recompense and in practice the DWP have flagged a possible 400,000 cases that require a review. To complete the review process alone along the original timescales is by the end pf 2024 (which will be too late for many) means reviewing 19,000 cases a month, at the last count only 4,000 cases were being reviewed each month. The DWP is hoping that increasing staff from 500 to 1500 and better automated systems will help them get on track… errm, good luck with that. Let’s remember that the problem is one of poor data in the first place with errors going unspotted for many years, there is already concern that even the solutions will contain errors.

At the time of writing around £200m has been paid of the estimated £1.46bn and many suggest the process may well take 5 years to complete.

According to the DWP, those impacted are people that claimed their pension before April 2016 and do not have a full National Insurance record, largely impacting married (or widowed) women. Tracing people is problematic but around 118,000 that could be traced were underpaid by an average £8,900 each. Some payments are much larger.

The DWP advise that they will be in touch, frankly I would not wait for them to contact you if you think you may be affected. You can and should check your State Pension here: www.gov.uk/state-pension. Please note this problem really relates to the older State pension, not the one that superseded it in 2016. In reality that means if you are a man and born before 6 April 1951 or a woman born before 6 April 1953. Today (December 2022) you would therefore be at least 69 if a woman 71 if a man. If it helps, Liverpool football legend Kenny Dalglish and pop veteran Chris Rea (On The Beach and Driving Home for Christmas) were both born 4th March 1951 or American Mary Steenburgen (of Back to the Future) in February 1953 or our own Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children and Logan’s Run) who was born in December 1952.

THOSE PROBABLY SHORT-CHANGED

The DWP focus on these main categories

Someone already getting State Pension who got divorced or had their civil partnership dissolved.
A married woman whose husband reached State Pension age after them and who became entitled to his State Pension before 17 March 2008
A husband, wife or civil partner in a couple where both had reached State Pension age and the other person has died and not yet claimed their State Pension, or
Someone aged 80 and over who has either no State Pension or Graduated Retirement Benefit, as they need to make a claim to get any Category D State Pension.

APRIL 2023 – THE INCREASE for 2023/24

I was asked recently if everyone’s State Pension will be increased by the inflation rate of 10.1% announced in the November Budget. I can confirm that according to all the Government website information this is the case. I have used this link as the source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-and-pension-rates-2023-to-2024/benefit-and-pension-rates-2023-to-2024 but to save you the trouble, the salient information is shown below. The new State Pension has a much later retirement age and this is likely to be extended further. A small footnote in the Budget showed that the Government would set out its intention in 2023.

THE “OLD” STATE PENSION

Category	Rates for 2022/23	Rates for 2023/24
Category A or B basic pension	£141.85 / £7,376.20	£156.20 / £8,122.40
Category B (lower) basic pension – spouse or civil partner’s insurance	£85.00 / £4,420	£93.60 / £4,867.20
Category C or D – non-contributory	£85.00 / £4,420	£93.60 / £4,867.20

THE NEW STATE PENSION

New State Pension	Rates for 2022/23	Rates for 2023/24
Full State Pension	£185.15 per week / £9,627.80 per year	£203.85 per week / £10,600.20 per year

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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Getting enough state pension?Dominic2025-01-21T15:51:59+00:00

NHS Consultants… a paper trail

NHS Consultants…
a paper trail

If you are an NHS Consultant you will have likely been aware for some years that the calculations relating to the pension annual allowance are hugely complex and difficult.

This is further compounded (as some of you will have experienced) by the fact that occasionally some of the documentation produced by the NHSBSA contains errors.

And the calculations become harder still when we are faced with ‘gaps in the data’. Suffice to say – the more information we have, the better our calculations will be.

That said, here is a complete list of all the documents that we would require in order to get these calculations right for you:

Total Rewards Statement (available to you online – but overwritten each year in August)

Annual Allowance Pension Savings Statement (only issued automatically by the NHSBSA in certain circumstances; so some of you will need to specifically request these)
P60
P11D if applicable
Payslip for March
Accounts / Tax Return for any Private Practice income
And as if this doesn’t sound like a lot – in order to do your calculations completely (and historically) we need these documents for:
ALL tax years going back to 14/15
ALL schemes … you will now be in the 2015 Scheme, but clearly we need information about your membership in the original 1995/2008 Scheme as well

Our admin team here at Solomon’s is currently working hard on trawling back through our records to see how many (or how few!) of these documents we have on file for each of our clients who are NHS Consultants (not an enviable task).

If you are one of our clients who religiously sends us these documents each year – thank you for being so meticulous (you may now stop reading this post with a contented grin!)

If you know that you have not been sending us these documents, please do drop us a line and we will confirm precisely what documents are missing.

Either way – the annual allowance is very likely to be something that all NHS Consultants need to worry about at some point (if not already) – so don’t delay in getting your paperwork up to date – it will save a lot of time and effort (and anxiety) in the long run.

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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NHS Consultants… a paper trailJemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:12:42+00:00

YOUR STATE PENSION – TIME IS RUNNING OUT

TODAY’S BLOG

YOUR STATE PENSION – TIME IS RUNNING OUT…

When the new State Pension was introduced from 6 April 2016, the Government also provided an easement to the normal six-year window which allows individuals to pay Voluntary (Class 2 or Class 3) National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to fill in gaps as far back as 6 April 2006. However, this easement is coming to an end on 5 April 2023 meaning individuals have a little over nine months to take advantage of this easement. I repeat…

THE EASEMENT TO BACK FILL YOUR NI CONTRIBUTIONS ENDS ON 5 APRIL 2023.

This was picked up in the press:

Telegraph (18 June 2022): How to boost your state pension by £55,000.
Express (25 June 2022): Pensioners could boost their state pension by up to £55,000 – how you could do it.

The headline grabbing figure of £55,000 is based upon the increase in State Pension following backfilling ten qualifying years, increasing an individual’s State Pension by £52.90 per week and paid for an assumed 20 years from State Pension Age (SPA).

For those of you not yet drawing your State Pension, I regularly remind you to check both your National Insurance record and obtain a proper State Pension forecast. To say that politics has been mucking around with your State Pension would be a significant understatement. You can also do this via your Personal tax account.

BEFORE TOPPING UP

However, people considering topping up need to take a range of factors into account. For example:

Some years can be ‘cheaper’ to top up than others; for example, people who have worked part-year and have paid some NICs may be able to complete that year more cheaply than buying a completely blank year;
Filling blanks for certain years (particularly those before 2016/17) can sometimes have no impact on your State Pension. This is particularly relevant for people who have already paid in 30 years by April 2016 and who were long-term members of a ‘contracted out’ pension arrangement;
People who expect to be on benefits in retirement may find that some or all of any improvement in their State Pension may be clawed back in reduced pension credit or housing benefit;
People who were self-employed can save money by paying voluntary Class 2 contributions (currently £163.80 per year) rather than Class 3 contributions (£824.20 per year);
Before paying voluntary NICs, individuals should see if they can claim NICs credits for a particular year. For example, those looking after grandchildren may be able to claim credits transferred from the child’s parent, and this could be a cost-free way of boosting their State Pension.

THREE KEY GROUPS

There are three groups for whom top-ups may be of particular interest:

Early-retired public servants, or private sector individuals who have been members of a ‘contracted out’ occupational pension scheme; the period of contracting out is likely to reduce their State Pension below the maximum amount, and their early retirement is likely to mean they have ‘gaps’ in their NICs record which can be filled;
The self-employed, who may have gaps in their NICs record and may be able to go back to any year since 2006/07 to top it up; this group is less likely to be affected by complications around ‘contracting out’.
Anyone that took a career break to look after children.

TAKE ACTION:

If YOU haven’t started to receive your State Pension, please do take this as an urgent reminder to check your pension. The State Pension is now roughly £9,660 a year each – which is a guaranteed income for the remainder of your life. Whether you think this is a lot or a little isn’t of concern here – just that you receive what you are entitled to.

For the record, no I don’t think its enough… which is why I do what I do and you pay me to do it.

LINKS:

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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YOUR STATE PENSION – TIME IS RUNNING OUTDominic2023-12-01T12:12:48+00:00

CAPPING CARE COSTS IN ENGLAND

TODAY’S BLOG

CARE COSTS IN ENGLAND

In early September 2021, the Government revealed initial details of its long-awaited plans for funding social care in England. While the other constituent parts of the UK each have their own care funding rules, they are all influenced by the approach adopted in England. A little over two months later some unwelcome clarification on the new English framework emerged.

2014 REVISITED

At the heart of the plan is a reworking of the structure created by the Care Act 2014, itself the product of the Dilnot Report produced in 2011. There are three key aspects of the new regime:

1. REVISED CAPITAL LIMITS

At present, if your savings and other wealth (potentially including the value of your home) amount to more than £23,250, then you must meet all your long term care costs. However, if your savings and other wealth are below £14,250 you will not have to touch them, although you will still be subject to an income-based means test to assess any personal contributions to your care costs. In between those two capital limits, a sliding scale of capital contribution applies – effectively meaning contributions of 20.8% a year of any capital over £14,250.

Under the new regime, the capital limits will rise to £100,000 and £20,000, with the in-between capital contribution still based on 20.8% of the excess over the lower limit. That could mean a payment of over £14,500 a year if you are assessed to have £90,000 of capital.

2. CARE COST CAP

Your liability to pay for care will end once an £86,000 (index-linked) ceiling is reached. In September, the Government emphasised that this cap applied only to personal care costs, not ‘hotel costs’ such as accommodation and food. Two months later it confirmed that hotel costs would initially be set at £10,000 a year, regardless of the true cost. Not such good news was the simultaneous announcement that the basis of the cap had changed from that in the Care Act 2014. Instead of the £86,000 total applying to fees paid by the individual and their local authority, only the individual’s outlay would count towards the cap. The implication was that many more people would never see the benefit of the cap, given the average stay in a nursing home is less than three years.

3. MEETING THE COST

To fund the reform, NICs for employers, employees and the self-employed will increase by 1.25 percentage points, meaning that basic rate taxpaying employees will face an NIC rate of 13.25% – just shy of two thirds of their income tax rate. Dividend tax rates will also rise by 1.25 percentages points, e.g. from 32.5% to 33.75% if you are a higher rate taxpayer.

DON’T RELY ON IT…

While the new capital limits and care cap for England will not take effect until October 2023, the NICs and dividend increases will bite (throughout the UK) from 6 April 2022. The theory is that, initially, the extra revenue will go to the NHS, but then gradually move across to funding social care as the new regime gets underway. In practice, many commentators have been sceptical that any Government will be able to take money away from the NHS once it has started to flow. Perhaps that explains why, from 2023/24, the extra NIC charge morphs into a separate Health & Social Care Levy.

2023 ONWARDS

Once the new regime is in place, the burden of care costs will be reduced, but the changes are not as significant as some of the election-time rhetoric suggested. There is still a possibility that your home will have to be sold to meet your care costs; the 2023 system will simply defer that sale until after your death and bridge the interim period with a loan from your local authority.

ACTION

The new regime is no reason to assume you can forget about the cost of care.

There are many bar room lawyer stories about how to avoid meeting care costs. Most fall at the first hurdle, the law that prevents ‘deliberate deprivation of assets’ to sidestep the capital test. If care costs concern you, talk to us about how funding can be built into your retirement planning.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
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CAPPING CARE COSTS IN ENGLANDDominic2023-12-01T12:12:52+00:00

STATE PENSION INCREASE

TODAY’S BLOG

STATE PENSION INFLATION INCREASE

You will have noticed the impact of inflation on various goods and services that you have bought lately. Inflation always hits those on a fixed income harder. That mainly means those that are drawing their pensions.

The ONS publish data about inflation every month, but I suspect your actual lived experience of inflation may differ from the general averages for the entire country. There has been much coverage of this in the news, in particular the real inflation on supermarket products.

You can check the official current rate of inflation here (click here)…. Or you could look at your utility bills.

Retirees in Britain face the worst disparity in their state pension payments when set against inflation since the triple lock was introduced over a decade ago, findings warn. In April 2022, state pension pay-outs will rise by 3.1%, and be based on Consumer Price Index figure from last September. But earlier in the month, new official figures revealed that inflation was running at 5.5% in the year to January.

Pensioners would currently see a real term loss of 2.4% in the amount of state pension income they receive from the Government, and the problem could worsen with forecasts of inflation peaking at around 7.25% in April, according to experts at Quilter.

The basic state pension will rise by £4.25 to £141.85 per week, or around £7,370 a year, in April. The full flat rate will rise by £5.55 to £185.15 per week, or around £9,630 a year. Since the triple lock was launched in 2010, there have only been 22 months when inflation stood above the uprating of the state pension for the previous April and five of those months were in 2021, says analysis by Quilter. The previous biggest disparity was 0.6% back in November 2017, when inflation ran higher than the state pension uprating for 11 months, but only on average creating a disparity of 0.4% over the period.

I have no wish to get political, but I would add that this is a difficult situation for any Government. The number of people claiming the State pension is rising and there are fewer “working” people (paying NI) to cover the cost. This is, to be blunt a timebomb. The State Pension is a political punchbag, in theory paid for by the combined employer/employee or self employed National Insurance contributions.

See the links below (for those not yet drawing a State Pension).

Remember that the State Pension is income and taxable, it is simply that for most people it is within the personal allowance for the tax year (the 0% allowance). The personal allowance for 2022/23 remains at £12,570.

GET IN TOUCH

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The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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STATE PENSION INCREASEDominic2023-12-01T12:12:53+00:00

GIVING AND INHERITANCE TAX 2021/22

TODAY’S BLOG

GIVING AND INHERITANCE TAX

Part of your tax year end planning may involve making some gifts that help reduce the value of your estate with the knock-on effect of reducing inheritance tax (hopefully a long time in the future though… right?!).

Anyway, the uncertainty that Capital Gains Tax faced last year was mirrored by IHT (inheritance tax). That too had been subject to a review by the OTS (Office of Tax Simplification … yes it does sound like something from a Peter Sellers sketch) commissioned in January 2018, which had seemingly got lost in the Chancellor’s in-tray. Thankfully, after nearly four years, the end of November 2021 saw a statement confirming that there would be only one administrative change to IHT (first announced in March 2021), easing the paperwork burden for many executors. IHT year end planning is, thus, also business as usual, meaning that you should consider using the three main IHT annual exemptions:

THE ANNUAL EXEMPTION

Each tax year you can give away £3,000 free of IHT. If you did not use all the exemption in 2020/21, you can carry forward the unused element to this year (and no further), but it can only be used after you have used the current tax year’s exemption. For example, if you made no gifts in 2020/21, and you gift £4,000 in 2021/22, you will be treated as having used your full 2021/22 exemption and £1,000 from the previous tax year.

THE SMALL GIFTS EXEMPTION

You can give up to £250 outright per tax year free of IHT to as many people as you wish, so long as they do not receive any part of the £3,000 exemption.

THE NORMAL EXPENDITURE EXEMPTION

The normal expenditure exemption is potentially the most valuable of the yearly IHT exemptions and one which the OTS wanted to replace. Under the exemption, any gift – regardless of size – escapes IHT provided that:

you make it regularly;
it is made from your income (including ISA income, but excluding investment bond and other capital withdrawals); and
the sum gifted does not reduce your standard of living.

This last exemption is not easy to prove. It would help your Executors and therefore your beneficiaries if you follow our guidance and requests to update your income and spending each year. Honestly, we don’t do these things to simply get you to complete forms – there is a logic and it’s all for your benefit (we do appreciate that it is a pain!). You can do this using our spending plan or simply update the information on the portal. If I have worked on your plan recently, the figures there also need to be checked. Basically we need to evidence your spending – or rather your executors will.

GET IN TOUCH

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GIVING AND INHERITANCE TAX 2021/22Dominic2025-01-21T15:48:27+00:00

TAXING YOUR HOME

TODAY’S BLOG

TAXING YOUR HOME

Most people believe that inheritance tax is one of the most unfair taxes. I understand the frustration, but for me its way down the list. Inheritance tax is not a tax you are likely to pay unless you have received a significant sum from a relative.

For me, Stamp duty is one of the most regressive taxes. Often overlooked by house buyers and almost always forgotten about by those that hold property portfolios. It’s a tax on getting on, staying on or moving along the property ladder. Literally nothing of significance done by a government employee and nothing at all done by HMRC or the Government.

OK, sure we need to take taxes somehow to fund a decent, functional society, but I have little comprehension of the obsession in taxing someone’s home, unless of course you believe that we are all really serfs working for our masters and that land taxes keep us all firmly in our places, outside the walls of landed estates. Of course if you were properly rich, your home would belong to a Trust – silly you.

Anyway, as predicted, the Stamp Duty holiday has led to a significant fall in the number of people paying this tax over the last quarter, according to the latest HMRC figures. HMRC figures shows the number of property transactions subject to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) were 10% lower in Q4 2021, when compared to the previous three months (Q3 2021). These transactions were also 13% lower than Q4 2020. This SDLT holiday was phased out between 30 June and 30 September last year. HMRC says this caused a substantial rise in the number of transactions being completed earlier in the year, with home buyers keen to avoid paying additional stamp tax charges. Since this tax break started to be phased out, HMRC says there has been a fall in transaction over the last two quarters. Residential property transaction in Q4 2021 were 12% lower than Q3 in 2021 and 15% lower than in Q4 2020. Over the same period non-residential property transactions were 10% higher than both Q3 2021 and Q4 2020.

AS SAFE AS HOUSES – THE SURE THING?

And guess what…. As predicted (or more accurately, as repeated from history) house prices rose to record highs. The average price of a home rose by 9.7% compared with a year earlier, gaining £24,500 to £276,759. However, monthly growth rose by 0.3%, down from 1.1% in December and the smallest monthly rate of increase since June 2021.

Many commentators expect the housing market to cool “considerably” this year as Britons are confronted by a cost-of-living squeeze. The Bank of England raised interest rates to 0.5% to curb inflation that it expects to rise above 7% in April. It forecast that rising energy costs and goods prices would lead to a 2% drop in people’s net income after inflation this year — the biggest hit to real incomes since comparable records began in 1990. About 22 million households will have to pay 54% more for their electricity and gas supplies from April 1, when the energy price cap rises to around £2,000. The Bank also predicted that growth in Britain’s GDP would slow. However, while commentators believe house price growth will cool this year, they did not expect prices to fall significantly.

Unplanned savings built up during the pandemic will go some way to offsetting the income squeeze. And with around 80% of UK mortgage debt at fixed rates, most mortgage-holders are well insulated from short-term increases. Furthermore, more stringent affordability criteria and mortgage regulation introduced during the 2010s means that recent buyers should be better placed to cope with higher mortgage rates than in the past.

Nobody sane thinks property is worth the prices being charged. I don’t do predictions and I don’t bet. You have been warned though (so take comfort that I am nearly always wrong about property prices).

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

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TAXING YOUR HOMEDominic2025-01-21T15:48:28+00:00

INHERITANCE TAX IS EASY MONEY FOR HMRC

TODAY’S BLOG

INHERITANCE TAX IS EASY MONEY FOR HMRC

Few weekends go by without one of the main newspapers doing a story on inheritance tax. I imagine that is because inheritance tax is often cited as the most loathed tax. The general view being that Government gets taxes whilst you are alive and the final indignity is to take more upon death. A 2015 YouGov report indicated its unpopularity.

If you have been reading any of my blogs over the years, you will know that I am rather sceptical of surveys and their results being understood to represent an entire population. The survey in question had a sample size of 1,975 adults. Not enormous out of a population of 66million. There are all sorts of problems with sampling data – but I digress, it is from my anecdotal experience of 3 decades, unpopular.

In March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projected 15% growth in inheritance tax (IHT) receipts from £5.2bn in 2020/21 to £6bn for 2021/22. They projected this sum to rise to £7.1bn in IHT receipts in 2024/25, after allowing for indexation of the bands which had been due to start in April 2021.

FROZEN – LET IT GO?

As you know, (page 12 of our client magazine Spotlight) the Chancellor elected to freeze all allowances in the last Budget. At the time, due in part to lower house prices the reprojection was £1bn less by 2024/25. However, it is clear that house prices have continued to defy logic by rising. If the rise in IHT receipts continue at the same rate as that experienced over April, May and June this year the 2021 total yield will likely exceed £6bn, rather more than anticipated (easy money eh?).

It’s always surprising that only around 25,000 estates bear IHT each year, but this year it could exceed 30,000. The nil rate bands (£325,0000) frozen until the end of 2025/26, then, unless values fall materially, this trajectory will continue.

And while on the subject of IHT, let’s not forget:

There are two Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) reports on IHT reform that have, substantially, not been acted upon by the Government
There have been a number of calls for wider reform of IHT from the likes of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Inheritance and Intergenerational Fairness.
A 2015 YouGov report found that IHT was the most disliked of all the personal taxes

If you are married (or are a widow/er), own your own home and have children, your nil rate band may well be £1m. However, if your estate is too large the additional main residence relief is reduced potentially to nothing.

If you are single and have no children, HMRC treat you as worthy of no favours, you have the standard nil rate band of £325,000 and no more.

SOLUTIONS? CLICK HERE!

Of course! there are solutions that may be helpful to you – so get in touch.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

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INHERITANCE TAX IS EASY MONEY FOR HMRCDominic2025-01-21T15:48:28+00:00

HEARTS, MINDS AND EQUITY RELEASE

TODAY’S BLOG

EQUITY RELEASE SURGE

A surge in homeowners looking to free up cash from their properties propelled the figure for equity release to £1.05bn in the three months to the end of September, driven by high house prices, gifts to family members and uncertainty induced by the coronavirus pandemic. The value of equity released jumped by nearly one-fifth from £884m in the third quarter of 2020.

While the number of loans taken out was slightly down year on year, the average amount of housing wealth freed up was 23% higher, at £101,593 per borrower. Data published this month by one of the main equity release providers (Key) suggested many borrowers were taking advantage of recent house price gains to help family members climb the housing ladder. “Big-ticket items” such as debt management and gifting were behind nearly two-thirds of the equity released in the third quarter. More than two-fifths (42%) of the cash given to family and friends was used for house deposits.

For homeowners over the age of 55, equity release offers a way of unlocking the value of their properties, whether for home improvements, paying off other debts or to help family members. Interest on the loan is paid through the sale of the house at the end of the term, so unlike a conventional mortgage a borrower is not required to demonstrate a minimum level of income to qualify. Interest rates are higher for these “lifetime mortgages” than for most mainstream mortgages. Interest rates are low by historic terms, but equity release is a not straight-forward.

THE POWER OF COMPOUNDING INTEREST

Equity release is not like a normal mortgage, repaid over a set time. It is generally a loan which is only repaid when the property is sold. Overall, no payments are made, the interest merely compounds. By now you know the miracle of compounding interest – which works wonderfully for your investments and does precisely the opposite for your debt.

The risks you need to consider are future interest rates, the future value of your home and how long you will live or anyone else that you share it with. The earlier you release equity, the bigger your total debt in the end. Admittedly this helps reduce the value of an estate for inheritance tax, but in practice it can simply mean that there is nothing to inherit.

Some of you may remember the significant property crash in the late 1980s. At the time equity release was very popular and many people got caught out by the reduced value in their home and the increasing interest rates. All conspired to create genuine stress and financial hardship for some. There have been reforms, but I would urge caution – a lot of it. This should always be considered in the context of your total financial planning, not simply a desire to help a family member.

We do not provide advice about equity release but can refer you to a specialist. However, you should exercise great caution and have a clear plan and reason about why you want the funds. Interest rates are normally higher than a typical mortgage. The fact that around half of those using equity release are between 65 and 74 does not bode well for those that may live for 2 or 3 decades.

As ever, good financial management starts with good budgeting and a proper plan.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

HEARTS, MINDS AND EQUITY RELEASEDominic2025-01-21T16:33:30+00:00