Making gifts during your lifetime can be a useful tax planning tool. If you make a gift and then survive for 7 years, the gift is not included in your estate for tax purposes when you die. In this way, you can pass your assets to your family or friends without incurring any inheritance tax liability.
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This is a basic outline of the rules relating to inheritance tax and gifts made during a person’s lifetime. The rules may differ in certain situations, such as where gifts are made into a trust.
When a person’s estate is valued to calculate whether inheritance tax is due, any gifts that the deceased person made in the 7 years immediately prior to their death are also taken into account. The value of these gifts will use up part of the nil-rate band and will reduce the tax-free amount that is available. Gifts can include a parent giving a property away to their child or transferring a property at an undervalue.
Making gifts during your lifetime can be a useful tax planning tool. As explained above, if you make a gift and then survive for 7 years, the gift is not included in your estate for tax purposes when you die. In this way, you can pass your assets to your family or friends without incurring any inheritance tax liability.
There are a number of exceptions to the general rule that gifts made during a person’s lifetime will use up their nil rate band (the tax-free amount), including the following:
If the whole of the nil rate band has been used up and inheritance tax is payable, the rate of tax is reduced for gifts made between 3 and 7 years before the person died. This is known as ‘taper relief’.
It should be noted that there are rules to prevent people from obtaining the inheritance tax advantages described above, in situations where a gift is made but the donor of the gift retains an interest or benefit from the property. An example would be where a mother gives her house to her children but continues to live in it. These are called the ‘reservation of benefit’ rules. The rules do not apply in every situation, and care should be taken when making lifetime gifts.
The rules regarding gifting and how they interplay with your estate and Nil Rate Band can often be confusing. We can discuss this with you in an easy to understand way.
Our experienced solicitors can provide expert advice on how this may interact with your estate in the future.
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