Valuing an estate for inheritance tax
Helping you protect your wealth is an important part of an inheritance tax planner, and one thing is certain, you need to plan to protect your wealth from a potential Inheritance Tax (IHT) liability.
Benjamin Franklin once said that 'nothing is certain but death and taxes', and thanks to IHT, they're not only certain, they're intrinsically linked.
Only for the rich?
Once only the domain of the very wealthy, the wide-scale increase in home ownership and rising property values over the past decade have pushed many estates over the IHT threshold. However, in recent years we have also seen property price reductions.
IHT applies to your entire worldwide estate, including your property, savings, car, furniture and personal effects.
You should also consider all of your investments, pensions and life insurance policies and ensure that life policies are held in an appropriate trust so they do not add to the value of your estate.
Estate valuation
When valuing a deceased person's estate, you need to include assets (property, possessions and money) they owned at their death and certain assets they gave away during the seven years before they died. The valuation must accurately reflect what those assets would reasonably receive in the open market at the date of death.
Valuing the deceased person's estate is one of the first things you need to do as the personal representative. You won't normally be able to take over management of their estate (called 'applying for probate' or sometimes 'applying for a grant of representation/confirmation') until all or some of any IHT that is due has been paid.
Independent Advice
For more information on IHT planning speak to one of the inheritance tax planning advice teams provided by one of our partner independent IHT advisors.
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