Inheritance tax to be halved

[WildWhippet]

The government intends on having the rate of inheritance tax in the autumn statement.

Is this a good move? Will it encourage you to vote for the Conservative Party?

It's only a million if you are/were a married couple, own your own home worth >£350k and leave it to your children. If you dont have children and are unmarried it's £325k. If you're unmarried but have children its £500k and if you are married but have no children its £650k. Simple really 😂

I suspect we are seeing one part of the Tory party trying to push for this via the media.

I think though that in terms of their core vote they'd be better adressing the iniquitous 60% tax rate for those on >£100k and < £125k, raising the 20/40/45% thresholds, while aslo increasing the 45% rate to 50%. Someone with more time could work out what the levels / top rate would need to be, but how hard can it be

Income tax is a mess, the frozen bands & the disparity between paye & other income but they won’t change it.

It's only a million if you are/were a married couple, own your own home worth >£350k and leave it to your children. If you dont have children and are unmarried it's £325k. If you're unmarried but have children its £500k and if you are married but have no children its £650k. Simple really

But if you don’t have dc why would you worry too much about IHT?

But if you don’t have dc why would you worry too much about IHT?

Because you may have siblings, nephews and nieces, close friends, etc.

I would up the rate of inheritance tax - it would be a great leveller and drive towards a more equal society.

I think the super rich are the most able to avoid it.

@DogInATent well obviously but would it really be something that worries you? One of my in-laws has put the dc in their will as they don’t have any. I just see it as a complete unexpected bonus tbh.

No, no and thrice no. Nothing, absolutely nothing would make me vote for these absolutely useless c**ts. It's time for change.

Exactly
It's created a two tier society for younger people - those with family money to buy a home and those without

What an odd question - do you really think that those without children don't plan what happens to their estate, and might want to do so in the most tax efficient manner? People have relatives other than children, as well as friends ane perhaps their children, to whom they might like to leave money!

Taking your view, why do those with children worry about IHT? The children will end up with something the didn't have, it'll just be less if taxed. And the parents won't care about the tax as they'll be dead

It's only a million if you are married/civilly partnered. living in your own home.

If you are a single parent/unmarried, or, say, siblings living together, you only get £500k.

And a single person without owning the property they live in, it's only £350k.

I think it should be a threahold for each person inheriting rather than of the person dying.

Stamp duty is hard to evade/avoid.

IHT is very easy to avoid.

Reducing stamp duty would mean a significant loss of revenue to the Treasury, whereas faffing around with IHT just buys them a few votes and makes little difference to tax revenue.

The truly rich don't pay inheritance tax and that includes the Royal Family.

What an odd question - do you really think that those without children don't plan what happens to their estate, and might want to do so in the most tax efficient manner? People have relatives other than children, as well as friends ane perhaps their children, to whom they might like to leave money!

Taking your view, why do those with children worry about IHT? The children will end up with something the didn't have, it'll just be less if taxed. And the parents won't care about the tax as they'll be dead

I think people often stress about IHT because of high houses prices & that inheritance is a vehicle to get on the ladder so I understand why someone would want their dc to benefit as much as possible. But as I already said I think the maximum threshold is pretty high.

I know a few people who have benefited from an inheritance from a non parent & they have just being surprised & very grateful. I know plenty of people without dc but with siblings etc who have taken equity release for example to really enjoy their older years & they have always been of the mindset that having no dc gives them that freedom. My neighbour just left her 1.4m house to charity.

Exactly
i have a god daughter as well as my sis

This will be a leak where they'll say "as of 2027, we might consider doing this" and won't be in charge by then anyway.

I must say though, my flat is disproportionately pricey. It's not my fault property prices went nuts. It seems mad that my sister would have to pay tax on it but I don't know how the nil bands work so maybe she doesn't. It's 40% total though, right? Not even a sort of scale?

@user1497207191 which is why I said up to. The vast majority who are going to be impacted by it is the ones with the family home that has gone up twenty times or whatever in value.

The wealthiest man in the UK - The Duke of Westminster died in 2016. How much inheritance tax do you think his son paid? Absolutely none. The same as his grandfather did in 1979 and the same as his g-grandfather did before that.

As with many taxes, if you are wealthy enough there are ways to avoid it completely.

Not quite. I work with a lot of high net worth individuals and it really depends on them.

Some are interested in planning ahead and making sure everything is passed down in good time, or using vehicles like trusts (these days trusts do not avoid IHT like they used to).

Some want to keep hold of everything til they go and enjoy themselves, and consequently have a whacking great tax bill.

I worked on the principal charge (10 year inheritance tax charge) for one trust a few years ago where the IHT bill was in the millions.

I think the idea that trusts and rich people evade tax is generally false these days. The legislature is no longer so favourable and hasn't been for quite some time.

Funny how the Truss tax cuts were almost universally panned, but this one will be met with open arms.

We should be increasing, not decreasing inheritance tax.

It's one of those taxes though where people are a bit crazy about it. Hardly anyone pays it, but a significant potion of people have a massive aversion to it.

To me it would be a great way of rebalancing the wealth demographics. Generally the old in this country have all the money and get all the subsidies. Taking the money from rich older people when they no longer need it seems like a sensible option to me.

OTOH, maybe we should continue with lower IHT, triple lock pensions, social care, heating benefits, high house prices and god knows what else and keep rinsing young families for tax to pay for it all instead.

Exactly ds was the sole beneficiary of great uncle’s estate. Money stayed in the family, but IHT due as not a direct descendant and therefore did not benefit from the extra house increase allowance.

Oh good, so rather than helping regular tax payers they're prioritising the very wealthy again. IHT is the only wealth tax in this country, given widening inequality it's a ridiculous move.

No because like the vast majority of the population it will never benefit me - in the event that my parents' nice 4 bed detached house in a nice area isn't needed to pay for care costs it still wouldn't come close to the threshold. And I would lose out from the value of that tax cut being taken from public services.

Anyone jumping for joy at the prospect of living in a poorer society in order to allow the adult children of some very wealthy people to get their hands on more money they've done nothing to earn needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

That's because it's in a discretionary trust, which means the trust pays inheritance tax every ten years.

They don't avoid inheritance tax. It's just that you don't pay it on death. You have to pay it every decade instead.