check out this tax rebate -

[marcros]

in that case, the axminster catalogue can probably help.

 

[monkeybiter]

I've told my son he can expect to get the house but if there's any money left I've done it wrong. May have to leave £7k to one side for Dignitas, in case I can't find my hand grenade hat.

 

[graduate_owner]

Hah, no, I am not planning on spending it all, I want to maximize what I can leave to my 3 children to help them with their mortgages. Then hopefully they can save more of their earnings and so not have to wait until they are 70 ( or whatever the age will be) until they can retire. I was lucky enough to be offered early retirement and I would like to see them being able to enjoy the later days of their lives too. I think that would be the best present I could give them. It's the value of the house that will be the issue, unless I sell up and downsize, which is probably what I will do anyway because it will be too much to manage in the next 6 or 7 years.

So if that means Mr Taxman gets a bit less when I snuff it then perhaps I should apologize to him in advance, but that's my plan. I don't feel that sorry about it actually. ( Disgraceful attitude I know, but that's me I'm afraid).

Also, my wife has already filled in the online form for the marriage allowance. May as well get it if I'm entitled to it.
K

 

[rafezetter]

You shouldn't feel sorry for not giving the taxman less, with some very careful planning it could be possible to not leave him a penny - but there is a time limit, any changes for tax avoidance that ocurr INSIDE a 7 year period before death will be nullifed iirc. So do it now, literally right now.

Downsizing is the obvious option but as happened to my parents last year, they decided to downsize but found that doing so netted them far less than desired because after duties, the cost of moving, probable renovations to any house they bought etc etc the sum released was less than £100,000 for buying a house HALF the size of the one they own but staying within 5 miles of their current location - and this is on a house valued at over £1,000,000.

I don't know how things are in Wales, but I would start doing your research into this to see whether downsizing is really the best way to get where you want to be. Obviously if you have the option to move to a significantly cheaper area, then it's moot, but if you need to stay closeish to family it could well be harder to release a decent sum.

As marcros said start maximising your gifts, trusts for grandchildrens college education and possibly transferring any major assets over to your wife.

£325k is the nil rate band with an extra £100k for passing on the family home, anything over this is 40%.

 

[Glynne]

I just need to ensure I minimise inheritance tax for my children now!!l Any more useful links??


K

seek professional advice in plenty of time. There are some tools that you can use to legally minimise tax- for example making lifetime gifts, paying for school fees/insurances and using annual exemptions. You would probably save more than it would cost to do so by seeing a solicitor or a financial advisor.

+1
Just gone through probate after I lost my Mum in January.
By pure fluke, the estate came in under the threshold and so no tax liability. But despite the fact that Mum legally signed the house over to me and my sister some 11 years ago, I still had to include the value for probate purposes as we didn't charge her any rent (obviously) so with a house of a much greater value, get some advice asap.
Also wanted to give my kids as much help as possible so I gave them my share as I wasn't dependant on it. I now need to live 7 years for their to be no tax liability (so 2 less people to knock me off for the time being) but the tax position does taper so by giving them something there is an element of tax reduction / mitigation.
For HMRC purposes I think the phrase is "Being of sound mind, I've spent all money!".

 

[MusicMan]

There's another consideration, which is the cost of retirement home care if you can't look after yourself. The local authority will mine your estate for the cost until there is only a small amount left (£20K ish). There is no 7 year rule on this either, they can go back as far as they like. If one partner dies and leaves all to the survivor, but the survivor needs residential care, then all of the capital including the house can be mined by the LA for the costs, till there is only £20K ish left. But if you (a) change your house ownership to be joint tenants rather than tenants in common and (b) alter your will to leave your half of the house to your kid(s) but allow your survivor to live in it till they die, your half is owned by the kid(s) and cannot be touched by the LA. Of course, if you both need residential care then the LA gets nearly all the capital anyway, but this is less common so it is a device worth doing. You need to see a solicitor about this to get the wording right, and worth doing Power of Attorney stuff at the same time. We've just done this.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No cheque yet, but we've had the notification of of the tax code change - another £1150p.a. allowance, so even if it wasn't backdated it's still worthwhile.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

£429 cheque. Can't be bad.

 

[benji81]

Ah yes, the advantages of being in love, or not as in most cases! Too many marry out of convenience these days, hence the ever increasing divorce rate!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Too many marry out of convenience these days? So what advantages are there in being married? (other than that little tax perk, obviously ).

 

[finneyb]

Ah yes, the advantages of being in love, or not as in most cases! Too many marry out of convenience these days, hence the ever increasing divorce rate!

No -- Increasing divorce rate because more women in the workforce earning money

Brian

 

[stuartpaul]

.......... But if you (a) change your house ownership to be joint tenants rather than tenants in common and (b) alter your will to leave your half of the house to your kid(s) but allow your survivor to live in it till they die, your half is owned by the kid(s) and cannot be touched by the LA. Of course, if you both need residential care then the LA gets nearly all the capital anyway, but this is less common so it is a device worth doing. You need to see a solicitor about this to get the wording right, and worth doing Power of Attorney stuff at the same time. We've just done this.

Think you'll find that's the other way round. Most mortgages for couples are joint tenants but it's tenants in common that helps with protecting the survivors estate.

 

[graduate_owner]

Thanks for all the advice on tax avoidance guys, and thanks also to OP for the link - just had a cheque for over £400. Very nice.

K