Inheritance tax is one of those taxes that is about as popular as a Bankers bonus at the moment. It is certainly a tax that seems to grate with most people – having paid tax all my life, I’m now asked to pay more even after death is the general attitude. Well, yes and no. In some senses IHT is an optional tax – optional if you plan. It is certainly not an option if you fail to plan and have an estate that results in an IHT liability.
There are a huge variety of IHT solutions, many of them are frankly rather too clever and given the sanguine nature of HMRC, there is a growing awareness that all that was permitted, is not necessarily to remain so. In truth many of the plans arranged by the financial services industry are complex and require testing in court – something that HMRC seems very well equipped to attempt.

I have put a new document on the website which will hopefully provide useful information for a thoughtful approach to IHT.