Inheritance Tax Planning

Revenue from inheritance tax and its predecessors has increased over time in real terms, from around £2 billion in 1980–81 to almost £9 billion by 2028–29 (in 2025 prices).

Historically, inheritance tax was a tax on the wealthy - however because of frozen tax thresholds since 2009 you now only need net assets of £325,000 as a single person or £650,000 as a married couple before your beneficiaries could be hit by the tax.

The main presentation will cover the following agenda:

Introduction to Teachers Financial Planning Ltd

Some delegates might be clients but we will be spending the first few minutes of the presentation with general housekeeping and explaining who we are as a firm.

What is inheritance tax and how big a liability to I have?

We look at the history of inheritance tax and how it is applied to single people, married and unmarried couples. We’ll discuss what is and what isn’t included in the value of your estate for inheritance tax to help you calculate the tax liability of your estate.

How can I reduce the impact?

We will look at the different ways that are used to reduce or eliminate the tax liability on the estate. The planning methods we discuss are established and non-abusive methods that are unlikely to fall foul of HMRC rules including:

Gifting solutions

We will cover which gifts can me made outside of your estate to immediately reduce your tax liability. The gifts that remain taxable for the next seven years in your estate and which gifts or transfers will be subject to an immediate 20% tax when they are made.

Insurance solutions

How is insurance can be used to offset the tax on both gifts and assets that remain in your estate.

Available reliefs

We explore exempt assets and current reliefs that are available for you to use to reduce the potential tax on your estate*

Using trusts (and when they’ll make your problem worse)

We will look at the different type of trusts that can be used to limit the impact of tax on your estate depending whether you want to retain control over funds in the trust or not. We’ll also look at how the residence nil rate band relief can be lost and potentially increase your tax bill by using discretionary trusts in your will.

Other estate planning considerations

We’ll look at the importance of making sure that you have a will and that it’s kept up to date as rules change.

Questions and answers

We’ll finish the session off with time for questions and answers with an adviser.