What surprise twist will inheritance tax throw your way?

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2024  •  3 min read

What surprise twist will inheritance tax throw your way?

The new tax year of April 2027 will likely bring in significant changes for the Executors and beneficiaries of estates. Unless plans change (which is a possibility) most people will likely see their estate pay even more inheritance tax.

Why? Well primarily because any unspent pensions will form part of the estate for assessment (they are currently exempt). As someone on social media far too often, I come across a number of posts and videos about this “draconian” tax and what you can do about it. Most of them are selling something and many of them are misleading.

There are other restrictions that are due to begin at the same time, but in this item, I am going to focus solely on your pension.

First, this only applies to investment-based pensions, not the big employer final salary or career average schemes (such as the NHS, Teachers, Local Government, Armed Forces). Whilst your statement from these institutions often shows a value, it’s irrelevant for anything other than a divorce.

As a result, those of you (most people) who have an investment-based pension, this will become part of your estate. Remember that there is no inheritance tax between spouses, this is only when a single or divorced person dies or the last member of a couple.

Pensions are designed to provide retirement income and therefore to be used. However, due to the way the tax system works, for many clients we may have structured income from a variety of sources, such as ISAs or cash and there may well be a reasonable amount of your official pension pot left (because you saved wisely and it was invested well).

You can get around this issue by going ‘old school’ and buying an annuity with your pension, which provides a guaranteed taxable income for life at prevailing income tax rates (0%-45% on all the income). The problem being that this is an irreversible decision and you are stuck with it, irrespective of future income tax rates and your actual need for income.

You could spend more, take out lump sums rather than just income, you can gift this money too. You decide who the beneficiaries are – which can be anyone or any registered charity.

However, a word of caution, your income requirement in a decades-long retirement (hopefully) will change and as you age, you will likely need less income for a period before possibly needing an awful lot more if you need care in your home or if you go into residential care, which as you may know, can be very expensive (£600-£3,500 a week). Let me put that in annual terms – £31,200-£182,000 a year. So it’s quite possible that you will spend a lot of your pension – perhaps all of it.

My advice is to have a proper financial plan and review it regularly. It’s not simply something for those planning retirement or the sale of their business; but for millions of retirees who rely on pensions and savings to get them through each month. Certainly, don’t panic about a tax that you don’t have to pay (your estate might, you won’t). There is a lot that can happen in the retirement years, and I will be encouraging you to maximise your enjoyment and fulfilment of the lifetime you have.

What surprise twist will inheritance tax throw your way?2025-10-03T16:15:57+01:00

Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?

Dominic Thomas
July 2025  •  4 min read

Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?

We live in a world that is lurching towards fascism, which is largely due to the failure of centrist Governments to address the inequalities in our society. Whilst evidently aware that the UK overspends and hasn’t enough income each year to continue to provide the services that we expect, sadly this Government, much like those before it, is adamantly refusing to tax the very wealthy (those with more than £10m of assets). Instead, they are taking a wrecking ball to the working and middle classes and small businesses with tax upon tax.

Plans to raise even more from inheritance tax (IHT)

We know that inheritance tax is unpopular and probably not because of the amount it raises (which is a fraction of taxes, accurately less than 1% of the total £857,821m) but rather more to do with the approach that Government simply taxes you again, taking bites out of the same money. Your savings have already suffered income tax, capital gains tax and possibly stamp duty and VAT, yet also finally succumb to inheritance tax.

The Fake Exodus

The failure of the current Chancellor, who in fairness is just as ineffective as all her predecessors over the last 40 years or so, is unable to appreciate the biases that she has – an inability to believe that taxing a few people more will not cause them to leave the UK with a proper wealth tax. Pandering to right wing reports of an “exodus” of millionaires from the UK, which is an utterly inflated and bogus interpretation of the available data, we, like the Chancellor and most politicians, are being fed the lie that we must allow the very rich to pay minimal taxes or risk their departure and then share the burden between those who remain here. In fact, our tax system is deliberately structured this way. The firm touting the narrative, seized upon by billionaire media moguls, is Henley and Partners – a company that basically specialises in servicing the ultra-rich. Its equivalent is a gun manufacturer distorting violent crime data resulting in fear and widespread gun ownership (ker-ching!) and … more violent crime.

Reality Check – Millionaires care about a thriving society too

The reality is that only 0.2% (zero point two percent) of millionaires migrate. This rate has barely altered. The Tax Justice Network and Patriotic Millionaires UK have both attempted to address this grossly deliberately misleading narrative, providing data and facts, but UK and global media outlets are rarely concerned with anything other than sensationalism and stoking division. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you had never heard of either organisation. It might surprise you to learn that 80% of UK millionaires support a 2% wealth tax. These are people who have at least £4m of net assets, which does include some of our clients.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, like those before her, has fallen for it and is pressing ahead with frozen allowances, increases to NI and tax rises for inheritance taxes in particular, impacting anyone with an investment-based pension fund (you) or a farmer (we have a few farmer clients but not many). Whilst Henley and Partners have backtracked on their false and inflammatory statements about an “exodus”, the media has not caught up and neither has Reeves.

As a result, the gradual reduction of the welfare state, the sense of distaste that most of us have for our ever-rising bills and taxes, the billionaires and ultra rich continue to build wealth and remain largely outside of scope. The constant failure of the UK Government and in particular Kier Starmer, leaves the door open for an irate electorate to vote for change, sadly the party that garners attention (thanks to a more than willing media) is that of Reform and the duplicitous Nigel Farage, who is a Trump mimic and fans the flames of fascism. For some people he is a protest vote; but the evidence suggests that he is not merely a protest. His rhetoric (backed by very wealthy individuals like Elon Musk and businesses) calls for dismantling the welfare state (including the NHS) and taking an authoritarian approach – threatening our democracy. On the rare occasions that he and his supporters admit that Brexit has failed, he states this is due to Government not going far enough (by which he means far right enough). Whilst the focus may initially be on “illegal immigrants”  and abandoning plans to save our only planet, his “policies” or words will inevitably fail to address any real problems; his argument will always be that centrists (the vast majority of the electorate) didn’t allow him to go far enough, and so we are, in my view, at a crossroads. He also advocates “relaxing” gun laws and defended fascists (laughably calling them “concerned families”) attempting to burn down a hotel which may have housed asylum seekers. You know your history.

When new information comes to light, I am forced to rethink and change my mind – how about you? My role as your adviser is not to tell you how to vote, but to advise you about your wealth and how this aligns with your lifestyle and the general sense of wellbeing when contextualised within our society.  Successive Governments have all largely failed most of us except the very wealthy which doesn’t include you (or me) despite our combined efforts to save, invest, grow, innovate, employ, repay debt and minimise taxes.

Instead, an employed person earning say £120,000 will have tax rates of 62% whereas I can assure you that someone with sufficient capital will be able to generate the same level of income with tax rates no higher than 28%. Taxing income and taxing wealth are not even vaguely comparable. You will note that in the diagram about tax receipts, most of those taxes are paid by working people under State Pension age.

I’m actually of no particular political persuasion, I attempt to vote for who I believe will serve our country and planet best, not necessarily my own interests. The choices today are highly influenced by media bias and false representation. Somehow, we have to pick our way through the noise and vote for decent people who hold everyone’s interests; not simply those who have a particular distorted view of monoculture, a faux respect for the protection of women and children (look at what they vote to cut) and conveniently forget our history whilst at the same time portraying a distorted view of the past. It is time for hope, not hate.

Would you be hit by a Wealth Tax?2025-08-13T10:19:38+01:00

Coming to your inbox – the latest tax headlines

Dominic Thomas
April 2025  •  4 min read

Coming to your inbox – the latest tax headlines

This morning (Wednesday 23rd of April) HMRC provided a regular release of information concerning tax receipts. It makes interesting reading for those of us who work with tax for a living, but for most, well … not so much. In essence, it covers the tax collected up to the end of the 2024/25 tax year, though there is always some adjustment made. Let’s start with the headline figure.

HMRC collected £857billion in tax for 2024/25 up 3.4% on the previous year. The trend is ever upwards for the collection of tax, at least from those of us not evading it.

Graph 1

The data in the chart above shows:

  • annual receipts over the last 20 years have grown from £402.9 billion in 2005 to 2006, to £857.0 billion in 2024 to 2025
  • receipts as a proportion of GDP over the last 20 years have grown from 28.4% in 2005 to 2006, to 29.8% in 2024 to 2025
  • the slight fall in 2008 to 2010 was due to a period of economic slowdown
  • receipts fell to £584.0 billion in 2020 to 2021, due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent government policies to support business and individuals

Even in my small world, the sector media focuses on what stories resonate. The item that grabbed the most attention recently was about inheritance tax “up to its highest level ever!” Whilst true that £8.2bn was paid in inheritance tax, this made up less than 1% of all tax receipts. This tells us a lot about the direction of politics – a focus on the 1% rather than the majority.

This is the chart that media focus on – the rising tide of inheritance tax.

Graph 2

Of course, this is a truth and clearly £8.2billion is a lot of money and we are all aware of the reality that more inheritance tax is going to be collected due to pensions falling within the scope of the tax from April 2027. It’s a tax we feel perhaps more directly as a large chunk of an estate heads off to HMRC for doing, well… very little.

However, in the context of all taxes paid, we can see where most (57%) of tax is generated – income tax, national insurance and capital gains tax. All of which will rise due to reduced or frozen allowances (capital gains and tax bands).

Here’s the political bit that you could sense was coming… income tax, national insurance and capital gains taxes are generally not paid by the very very ultra rich. Income taxes are reduced when derived as dividends and NI is only paid on earned income. Borrowed money (borrowing against your portfolio) is not taxed (though interest is charged, it is less than tax rates) and as shares are not sold unless valuations collapse, capital gains are not triggered. Add in some tax incentives for particular investments and you may not have any tax to pay at all…

Or to put it another way…

Coming to your inbox – the latest tax headlines2025-04-27T19:26:18+01:00

Pensions and Inheritance Tax

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2025  •  2 min read

Pensions and Inheritance Tax

In the first Labour Budget of the current Government, Rachel Reeves announced that from 6th April 2027, pension funds (investment-based pension funds) would form part of an estate for inheritance tax assessment. This made a number of folk choke on their gin and tonic as they considered their estate in light of this pension reform.

Despite only being elected on 4th July 2024; now barely six months on and only about three months since her Budget on 30th October, the Government has been facing growing criticism for lack of economic growth since they took office. To be candid, I’m not sure who is so vexed about this; as any reasonable person would appreciate that the impact of a new Government and policy decisions generally take a while to have any impact on economic growth. So this has probably rather more to do with sentiment than fact (all political bias aside).

Anyway, some of the biggest companies have collaborated to tell the Chancellor that her plans to include pensions within inheritance tax assessments are “bonkers” (my word not theirs!). This includes AJ Bell, Quilter, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor, who between them manage £430bn of pensions across around 3.4m people.

I’m not sure how much attention will be given to their pleading, however meritorious, as there is a rather obvious conflict of interest (if the funds are not taxed, then investment firms continue to manage the higher amount).

It would certainly seem that the UK needs some serious spending on its infrastructure, healthcare, education and welfare – so the money has to come from somewhere, but so far the billionaires seem to have been able to reside in their silos like Bond villains and declare that they will move outside the UK should they be required to pay any more tax – perhaps Mars.

There is obviously some unfairness about the Government proposals. It punishes those who saved and didn’t spend it all. There is ample opportunity for not simply one tax (IHT), but the likelihood of further double taxation. One might add that this doesn’t help the younger generations to finally buy a property either. Frankly the complexity of tax rules and pensions will make any adviser (let alone Executor of an estate) squirm with uncertainty when totting up all the assets and calculating the liability (failure for doing this accurately can result in a custodial sentence).

In short, a week is a long time in politics, the few months since the Budget already feel like a lifetime and there may well be a lot of changes before April 2027. So before you panic and blow your retirement planning into some irrevocable strategy, please do consider that change is possible and may be probable.

Pensions and Inheritance Tax2025-02-17T17:01:29+00:00

Probate delays

Dominic Thomas
May 2024  •  2 min read

Probate Delays

I suspect you are familiar with the Probate process. In essence, this is accounting to HMRC the value of someone’s estate upon death. The process is often tedious and full of unhelpful jargon and bureaucratic forms. In order for beneficiaries to inherit, probate needs to be agreed or more accurately granted.

Those of you who have experienced the process at any point will have a sense of the time that it takes and the scale of the task. Often the task is delegated to a solicitor and this can be both liberating and beneficial; but not necessarily any faster.

Aware of the growing number of delays, a Freedom of Information request revealed that the number of cases taking over a year has increased by 65% according to the Ministry of Justice. Some have been as long as 23 months, some even longer. It is generally agreed that the process should take around four months.

Death is a stressful time for the survivors; and handling an estate can be very time-consuming (close to a full-time job in some instances). There are things that can be done to reduce the impact, such as placing life assurance policies into Trust. There is a degree to which we can each even ‘plan’ for our own deaths, but of course this is not something that most do; many people have not prepared their finances nor kept their affairs in good order.

We help our clients make this arduous and stressful task a little easier for their loved ones when the time comes – and rest assured they will be grateful to you for it.

Probate delays2025-01-21T16:32:38+00:00

Death of inheritance tax?

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2023  •  5 min read

Death of inheritance tax?

There are a number of elections around the world – the pontifications, point-scoring, own goals and blotted copybooks are all about to garner increased scrutiny. Whispers of good news into ears in attempts to win over voters. The next UK election has to be held by 28th January 2025 and we all tend to suspect that the current bunch will continue to attempt to restore a modicum of decency and sound policy before announcing one.

The rumours of the death of inheritance tax appear to have gained some traction, this is of course all largely leaked hearsay, or in other words think tank testing popular opinion. The conundrum of taxes is simply that we all know that they are needed, but few of us can see that the money is used wisely. Some of our fellow humans seem to enjoy paying tax, able to clearly see the collective value in how, what and why it is deployed. Here in the UK, we may get a standardised pie chart of where it went, but the numbers are invariably so vast that they have very little connection with us.

Inheritance tax is one of the most loathed taxes. This is probably because most of us (the middle classes) have earned income, which has already been taxed. Savings or investments, entrepreneurial or retail have had taxes applied, albeit with some allowances granted. IHT is a bit like being given a tax bill again, once you have done all the sensible things and have something left to leave your family or beneficiaries.

A tax rate of 40% also seems fairly high (by tax rate standards) much higher than capital gains taxes and higher than most people pay as income tax. It was seven Chancellors ago when a certain George Osborne who last messed around with IHT, adding an allowance for those who had a home and children to inherit it. The Main Residence Relief was ushered into existence from 6th April 2017, now granting an extra £175,000 of exemption (in addition to the £325,000 nil rate band that everyone gets). It would be too easy to have simply increased the latter to £500,000, instead, this is the making of the Humphrey Appleby’s where what you appear to have can be withdrawn in the wrong or right circumstances, depending how you count and what you count.

So the latest whispers of the abolition of inheritance tax, garner a keen ear and of course the intention is that those convert into votes. Taxes as bribes? It was ever thus. IHT has been raising substantial sums for HMRC over the years and each year the sums tend to increase. The latest data April to August 2023 showed IHT receipts of £3.2bn, up £0.3bn. In the tax year ending 2022-23 £7.1bn of the total £786.69bn HMRC received from all sources. I make that about 1% in round numbers.

Combined with this potential good news is a classic ‘Humphreyism’ in that the current inheritance tax exemption on pension funds may be … well, challenged. There already are possible taxes, depending on how conveniently you can arrange your death before age 75 or how the money is taken. However, this appears to be within the range of the ministry of misinformation and may well be that classic case of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

We will keep you posted with facts as they arise, assuming they are clearly disclosed by Humphrey and his chums.

For the record:

Osborne, Hammond, Javid, Sunak, Zahawi, Kwarteng, Hunt.

Death of inheritance tax?2025-10-06T12:15:12+01:00

Giving and Inheritance Tax 2021/22

Dominic Thomas
March 2022  •  4 min read

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.

Giving and Inheritance Tax 2021/222025-10-06T12:04:26+01:00

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?

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?

TAXING YOUR HOME2025-01-21T15:48:28+00:00

Inheritance tax is easy money for HMRC

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2022  •  1 min read

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.

Inheritance tax is easy money for HMRC2025-10-06T12:06:09+01:00

THE AUTUMN BUDGET 2021

TODAY’S BLOG

THE AUTUMN BUDGET 2021

In terms of your personal finance, not a lot has changed. Indeed, most of the announcements merely confirmed previous announcements, such is the way of our politicians. As a reminder, the next tax year begins on 6th April 2022. The main changes for most are really for those that receive dividends or pay National Insurance

iNCOME TAX RATE ON DIVIDENDS 2022/23 2021/22 (NOW)
Basic rate taxpayer 8.75% 7.50%
Higher rate taxpayer 33.75% 32.50%
Additional rate taxpayer 39.45% 38.10%
Rate for Trusts 39.35% 38.10%

National Insurance for employers increases from 13.8% to 15.05% which basically makes it more expensive to employ people. Employees will also pay rather more at the main rate, rising from 12% to 13.25% and then at the upper or higher rate increased from 2% to 3.25%. Remember the thing about National Insurance is that there is a threshold for the main rate after which you simply pay a flat, reduced rate (currently 2% but increasing to 3.25%). The self-employed main rate increases from 9% to 10.25%. Self-employed people do not fully enjoy the same benefits for their NI payments.

MAIN ALLOWANCES

For those of you using your pensions, the annual allowance remains at £40,000 but if you have begun drawing income from investment-based pensions it is restricted to £4,000 the delightfully named “Money Purchase Annual Allowance” or MPAA. The Lifetime Allowance (the total value of your pensions permitted before excess charges) remains frozen as previously indicated at £1,073,100. This is equivalent to a pension income of £53,655.

ISA and JISA limits remain as they were (£20,000 and £9,000) which are fairly substantial allowances but indicate a “kick the can down the road” policy of Government worrying about tax in the future. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowances and rates remain as they are (which is daft).

If you own a second property or inherit one, the capital gains rate and requirement for payment are important to understand. However, one small improvement is that you now have 60 days to pay the liability rather than 30 (with immediate effect). I imagine one of Rishi’s friends was offloading and was worried about an extra charge (surely not!).

As for inheritance, the nil rate remains at £325,000 per person and those with children inheriting the family home the residential nil rate band adds a further £175,000. However, this is tapered when an estate is worth more than £2m.

In short, for all the bluff and thunder and 200 pages, not much is in it for you and I. Remember – death and taxes.

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?

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?

THE AUTUMN BUDGET 20212025-01-21T16:33:57+00:00
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