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Inheritance Tax Planning                       

It seems like every week we are being told new statistics in relation to life expectancy. The latest I saw was the North South divide in life expectancy which had grown to a 14 years diffe...

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For many they believe that the use of trusts is something that is reserved for the rich and famous. In reality they should be used by everyone, as the most basic of trusts is a Will. The first thing to explain is what exactly is a trust? HMRC describe a trust as a way of managing assets (money, investments, land or buildings) for people....

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In this month’s blog I wanted to show how pensions can be a useful source of funds for a business owner. As Pension Freedoms have allowed greater flexibility in terms of access to pension funds it allows us to use them in circumstances that previously we would not have been able. For many people their second biggest asset behind the hous...

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When the changes to pensions came into force in April 2015 the headline writers talked about people now being able to access their pensions to buy Lamborghinis. In reality more than 1.5 million people have drawn from their pension since the changes. The latest figures from the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs stated that the average wit...

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If you hold an offshore investment bond it is very likely that you would have received a letter in recent months about the need to declare previously undeclared income with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. The aim of this letter is to scare individuals into declaring all of their offshore income, whether it is from offshore investments or...

In recent years there has been a lot of talk in the financial services industry about whether investment bonds still remain relevant for individuals. We still believe that for the right person that they remain good advice for them. An investment bond is a product that allows regular withdrawals of up to 5% of the original amount invested ea...

Following on from my last blog where I talked about alternatives to pensions. In this blog I will talk about a more recent pension alternative the Lifetime Individual Savings Account (LISA). This has been introduced by the government to cover two things that they were worried about. Firstly the government introduced it to try to encourage i...

Inheritance Tax (IHT) has been in existence in some shape or form since 1694. It was thought that in recent years that more and more people have been subject to IHT however this is just returning to the levels paid back in the 1979-80 tax year. Back then you were taxed at up to 75% on inherited assets above £25,000 compared to 40% above £32...

Following on from my last blog where I talked about pension contributions using Carry Forward for an employed person this time I would like to write about how this can be used for owner directors. In this current tax year 2017/2018 it is possible to contribute up to the current annual allowance of £40,000 or up to £160,000 if using carry fo...