Inheritance Tax Master Class 

Imagine a future where your family's wealth is protected from unnecessary inheritance tax, avoidable probate costs and expensive mistakes... and your Executors know exactly what to do

Signing up for my Master Class will equip you with the knowledge to make that future a reality.  

The Master Class costs £297 and gives you access not only to the full teaching (split into four videos, one for each Module) but also to the practical guides, sample documents, forms and resources that accompany each Module.  Here's a summary-

MODULE ONE – What’s your Inheritance Tax liability?

We start at the beginning.  You’ll learn how Inheritance Tax works, how to calculate your potential liability and, importantly, how to value your estate correctly.  We also look at the forthcoming changes to the treatment of pensions from April 2027 and why good estate records can make such an enormous difference for the people who eventually have to administer your estate.

Included with Module One:

- Estate Planning Record
- Full presentation slides

MODULE TWO – Reducing IHT by building the right foundations

Before you start giving assets away or considering more complicated planning, you need to make sure the foundations are right.  We look at whether your Will is structured as tax-efficiently as it could be and how your other arrangements fit alongside it, including pension nominations, Lasting Powers of Attorney, letters of wishes, life assurance, discretionary Will trusts, Deeds of Variation and when they may be useful.

Included with Module Two:

- Sample Letter of Wishes for a Property and Financial Affairs LPA
- Sample Letter of Wishes for a Health and Welfare LPA
- Sample Letter of Wishes to the trustees of a discretionary Will trust
- Sample pension nomination form – which can often be preferable to simply relying on a provider's standard form
- My article “Tax Efficient Wills for Couples”
- Full presentation slides

MODULE THREE – Making lifetime gifts without costly mistakes

Gifting can be one of the most effective ways of reducing an eventual Inheritance Tax bill – but only if you understand the rules.  In this module, I take you through the different types of lifetime gifts, the exemptions and reliefs available, the seven-year rule and how the different rules interact.  Just as importantly, I show you how to record your gifts properly.

Making a gift is only part of the job. If your executors cannot demonstrate years later why a particular exemption should apply, valuable tax relief can potentially be much harder to establish.  The aim is to give your executors the best possible opportunity of claiming the exemptions and reliefs available – while making the administration of your estate considerably easier.

Included with Module Three:

- IHT403 – the HMRC form used for recording lifetime gifts
- Sample Statement of Intention for regular gift-making
- My guide to giving and recording gifts as a married couple
- Full presentation slides

MODULE FOUR – Property, investments and advanced IHT planning

In the final module we move into some of the areas where Inheritance Tax planning becomes more complex.  We look at the planning possibilities surrounding your main home and other properties, including the very important gift with reservation of benefit rules – what can inadvertently create a reservation of benefit and what you need to consider if you want a gift to be effective for IHT purposes.

We also look further at pensions and consider Business Property Relief, including investment in qualifying companies on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).  Finally, I introduce some of the more sophisticated IHT planning structures that you may hear discussed by financial planners, including Loan Trusts, Discounted Gift Trusts, Flexible Reversionary Trusts and Family Investment Companies (FICs).

The purpose isn't to turn you into a financial planner. It is to give you enough understanding to know what these arrangements actually do, why somebody might use them and what questions you should be asking before deciding whether one is appropriate for you.

Included with Module Four:

Full presentation slides