Posts By: Matthew Smith

It seemed almost inevitable, however we woke this morning to find that, as widely predicted, Keir Starmer’s Labour party will form the next Government with a huge majority of around 170 seats – the largest Government majority in a very long time and also one of the largest swings in modern political history.

While nothing will be certain at this point, attention will now turn to the likely direction of policy and, as far as we are concerned, any measures that might impact on our Estate Planning work with clients.

While it seems likely at the time of writing that Labour will wait until the Autumn to hold their first budget, there is always the possibility of things happening sooner.

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In what seemed to be a surprise move, Rishi Sunak called a snap summer election which is now little more than 3 weeks away.

Attention will turn next week to the party manifestos which will begin to give us an idea of what the main parties have in store for us in the coming 5 years. A Labour victory looks all but certain at this stage, although as the saying often goes, a week is a long time in politics and so I suppose 4 weeks is an eternity! Things can of course change, however for the moment, let’s consider the likely outcome that we have a changing of the guard at Westminster in 4 weeks’ time.

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The normal expenditure out of income exemption is one of the most effective, yet underused, inheritance tax exemptions. If the taxpayer makes payments (or intends to make payments) on a regular basis out of income, and those payments do not affect the taxpayer’s usual standard of living, those payments will be free of inheritance tax. It should be noted that withdrawals from investment bonds are not treated as income for these purposes, and this extends to payments made to the settlor from a loan trust or discounted gift trust.

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Creating a will is like setting your sat-nav for a smooth journey for your assets after you’re gone. However, just as with any well-planned journey, there are risks of unexpected detours—in this case, a will being contested (usually by a disappointed beneficiary) when you are gone.

Despite meticulous planning, the reality of a will being contested can be more common than many anticipate, and understanding these risks is crucial for anyone thinking about their estate planning.

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Move Along… Nothing To See Here

Well, the Budget was certainly ‘as expected’ last week.

As is so often the case nowadays, all of the key announcements had been leaked in the days leading up to the event and so there were relatively few real surprises.

The consultation on a new “British ISA” (BRISA?) and a slight reduction to the top rate of Capital Gains tax on property sales were the only significant announcements that had not been previously rumoured.

What was conspicuous by its absence however was any mention of Inheritance Tax.

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We often have conversations with clients who have ‘too much money’. Now, please don’t get me wrong. As far as ‘problems’ go – this has got to be one of the better ones to have!

However, it is a problem nonetheless

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I am sure you will be familiar with the saying ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ or KISS in acronym form.

I had an interesting conversation with a client this week on this subject.

We were discussing the implementation of their estate planning framework, including new wills, trusts and some lifetime gifting for their children.

During the conversation, when I asked how they would like to distribute things, they said “oh we are going to keep it really simple – sorry”.

Sorry?

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Well that year went by in a flash – we say it every year, but 2023 really did feel like a whirlwind.

There will be countless ‘review of 2023’ articles online, so I will focus instead on what’s to come in 2024 as it will undoubtedly be an impactful year. Read more…

Well that was all rather uneventful. This time two weeks ago, the Autumn Statement was looking completely benign from a personal finance point of view. Yes, there was some degree of speculation that we would see some modest tinkering with personal taxes, but there was certainly nothing of any significance to speak of in the rumour mill.

Then on Thursday evening, the big one dropped – there were (apparently) discussions around reducing, or even abolishing, IHT.

Personally I always thought this unlikely, but the rumour mill seemed to go into overdrive at the weekend and I was starting to doubt myself – could they do it? Would they do it?

After all the drama of the weekend and the prospect of a really rather exciting Autumn Statement, it ended up being… rather benign really – just like the original predictions.

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We are so proud to announce that for the fifth year in a row, Buckingham Gate were awarded the Solidus Estate Planner of the Year Award at the Solidus annual conference held on the 18th of October.

Estate Planning is a very large part of the work we do with our clients and so to receive such a prestigious award serves as a testament to the hard work and passion that our team invests in the work we do.

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