Inheritance Tax Made Simple: The essential guide to understanding inheritance tax

'Inheritance Tax Made Simple' offers practical measures that you can take to reduce the burden of inheritance tax (IHT). This applies whether you are concerned about the impact on your own money and assets, or you are receiving an inheritance which may be subject to IHT or cause you to be subject to IHT. The book is divided into four parts: Part 1: An overview of inheritance tax. Part 2: Planning to reduce any IHT burden during your lifetime. Part 3: Taking measures to reduce the burden of IHT on death. Part 4: Dealing with IHT issues if you are administering an estate. Inheritance tax touches some of the most sensitive areas of any legal subject, and dealing with it can often be unduly stressful, or come at a difficult time in your life or the lives of loved ones. It is the aim of this book to be helpfully straightforward and a thorough guide to this complex area of law, and to lessen such stresses as far as is possible. --- Erratum to first edition: Point (4) on page 14 should read: "In some cases there will be a nil-rate band to transfer where the death of the first spouse occurred before 21 March 1972. Prior to 21 March 1972, if a husband or wife left assets to his or her spouse (or anyone else) those assets were taxable. If the assets exceeded the nil- rate band in force at the time, there will be no nil-rate band available to transfer. If they were less than the nil- rate band at the time, there could be a partial or entire nil-rate band to transfer."

Table of Contents:
About the Author Abbreviations Preface Introduction Part 1: A Detailed Overview of the Inheritance Tax Regime 1.1 A reminder 1.2 IHT in a nutshell (transfers of value) 1.3 The meaning of domicile 1.4 The geographical ambit of IHT 1.5 The nil-rate band and the rate of IHT 1.6 The ticking seven-year clock 1.7 Many nil-rate bands 1.8 The spouse/civil partner exemption 1.9 The transferable nil-rate band 1.10 Using up the transferable nil-rate band 1.11 Multiple transferable nil-rate bands? 1.12 Maximising the tax savings from transferable nil-rate bands 1.13 Evidential issues raised by transferable nil-rate bands 1.14 More on domicile 1.15 The IHT charge on gifts (PETs and chargeable transfers) 1.16 Exemptions (transfers that are exempt from IHT) 1.17 Reliefs available in respect of inheritance tax 1.18 Capital gains tax (CGT) 1.19 Associated operations 1.20 Gifts with a reservation of benefit 1.21 Pre-owned assets 1.22 Wills 1.23 Severance of tenancy 1.24 Trusts 1.25 Valuing assets for IHT purposes 1.26 Conclusion of Part 1 Part 2: Planning During Your Lifetime to Reduce the Burden of Inheritance Tax On Your Death 2.1 Evaluating relevance of tax planning 2.2 Basic tax-planning solutions 2.3 Discounted gift schemes 2.4 Loan trusts 2.5 Making use of the CGT annual exemption of your spouse or civil partner 2.6 Using trusts to mitigate both CGT and IHT 2.7 Sale and purchase of smaller replacement home 2.8 Gifting part of your home 2.9 Severing and gifting part of your home 2.10 Commercial arrangements and the family home 2.11 Gift and leaseback of the family home 2.12 Will arrangements for couples living as partners 2.13 Business property: AIM/USM shares 2.14 Sheltering assets in the family business 2.15 Converting 50% BPR to 100% BPR 2.16 Maximising BPR and APR by allocating debts to non-business and non-agricultural assets 2.17 Maximising BPR and APR - the double-dip will 2.18 The 'Family Debt Scheme' 2.19 Using trusts to mitigate IHT - three approaches 2.20 Life insurance 2.21 Making wills - a must for everyone and in particular for the wealthy 2.22 Directing property into trusts when making wills (pilot trusts) 2.23 Seemingly clever strategies to avoid, as they do not work 2.24 Conclusion to Part 2 Part 3: Reducing the Burden of IHT on an Inheritance Preamble 3.1 Claim exemptions and reliefs 3.2 Be aware of the tools at your disposal 3.3 Deeds of variation 3.4 Disclaimers 3.5 Transfers out of trusts 3.6 Using the tools 3.7 Redirecting to spouse/civil partner 3.8 Maximising BPR and/or APR (double-dip) 3.9 Transferring growth tax-free 3.10 By-passing a generation 3.11 Giving to charities/political parties etc. Part 4: Dealing With Inheritance Tax Issues on Death if You Are Administering an Estate 4.1 Brief summary of administering an estate (probate) 4.2 Important time limits and penalties for delay 4.3 Valuations 4.4 Penalties for incorrect accounts 4.5 Liability to deliver accounts 4.6 Loss relief on sale of land 4.7 Loss of value relief on sale of shares 4.8 Quick succession relief 4.9 Liability to pay the tax 4.10 Dealing with the IHT 205 (2006) and IHT 400 Conclusion Appendices Appendix 1: Historical rates of nil-rate bands Appendix 2: HMRC's view on redirection as avoidance Appendix 3: Glossary Disclaimer Index

About the Author :
Andrew Komarnyckyj is the Director of a niche legal practice delivering innovative legal services to the public and to other professionals. He had a successful career in sales and marketing prior to qualifying as a solicitor. He studied law by correspondence course while working full time, and was awarded two prizes for achieving the highest marks nationally in one of his law exams. During his legal career he has been the head of the Probate Department for two leading West Yorkshire firms of solicitors, at one of which he became a partner. He has over 15 years legal experience working exclusively in the field of wills, trusts, tax planning and probate. He left conventional legal employment in March 2009 in order to establish Wills, Probate and More, www.willsprobateandmore.co.uk, his own niche legal services company, and to be free to comment on the legal profession as an outsider. He now divides his time between legal practise and writing. Andrew is also the author of Probate Made Simple (9781906659554).