“Inheritance tax regime must move with the times”

Feb 24, 2023 | Tax

In my experience, some worry too much about Inheritance Tax, others not enough. Most married couples who own their own home have a £1m allowance and even with ‘soaring house prices’, a majority fall below the limit. The allowances, however, have been frozen, and many of the extras, the £3,000 you can give away each year and £250 for gifts to as many different people as you wish, haven’t changed for nearly 40 years. Indeed, the main allowances haven’t changed since 2009, and would be 40% higher had they kept pace with inflation (yes, that’s how much 14 years-worth is even at low rates!) The IHT rules are an extremely tangled web already, and of course those whom the original ‘Death Duties’ were established to hit, the landed gentry and super-rich, have always been pretty adept at avoiding most forms of tax. And so, yes, it’s the squeezed middle who suffer. As always. And who usually don’t notice and keep voting to suffer.

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“How grandparents are facing more restrictions than oligarchs”

“How grandparents are facing more restrictions than oligarchs”

I did say some years ago that it’s easier in this country to buy a football club than to pay £1,000 into an ISA. You need a bob or two more (depending on the team you’re after) but the point is that money talks and can oil and grease all sorts of wheels.