What issues does Covid-19 raise for Estate Planning in 2020?
Massive public spending during the Covid-19 crisis means the government will almost certainly increase taxes in the short to medium term. Additional austerity seems implausible and government borrowing is already stretched. The government will be emboldened in its revenue-raising task…
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Covid 19 & Tax Planning
By the time we emerge from the Covid 19 crisis the UK will be vastly more indebted. Households, companies and the state will be carrying much more debt and be much more risk averse. The Bank of America believes the…
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Capital Gains Tax on Property: The Imminent 6 April 2020 Changes
The current crisis is completely absorbing for most of us but there are, nevertheless, important tax changes which it is well to remember will be effective in a few days time. From 6 April 2020 a minor overhaul of capital…
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Covid 19, Wills & Tax Planning
Covid 19, Wills & Tax Planning Ian Bond TEP, chair of the Law Society’s wills and equity committee, recently stated to the Daily Telegraph that levels of requests for will drafting are now up 30 per cent. That corresponds to what I have…
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Inheritance Tax and the 2020 Budget
After several months of noise regarding changes to inheritance tax Rishi Sunak’s budget avoided even tentative adjustments to the tax altogether. Headline predictions included a reduction of the rate from 40% to 10%, removal of lifetime gifting allowances, and the…
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Trust Registration Obligations: Update Early March 2020
“The immanent extension of the online UK Trust Registration Service (TRS) to cover express trusts without any tax consequences, under the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), is likely to extend the number of registrable trusts from around 200,000…
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HMRC sets up opaque unit to probe inheritance tax avoidance
HM Revenue & Customs has created a somewhat secretive and shadowy unit to investigate the use of family investment companies , sometimes known as FIC’s, to avoid paying inheritance tax. The unit was set up the team in April…
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Inheritance Tax in the New Era
Inheritance Tax in the New Era: 2020 When Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, hinted at the 2019 Conservative Party conference that scrapping inheritance tax ‘was on his mind’ he was merely taking his place in a long…
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Death & Taxes – The Real Origins of the Phrase (it’s not what you think)
It was on November 13th, 1789, that Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy a phrase that has reverberated ever since: “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this…
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The best way to gift cash to grandchildren?
It is often the way of things that those involved in inheritance tax planning overlook the simple and straightforward. Part of the reason undoubtedly lies in the discipline needed to make regular gifts over many years. For those who have…
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