Quick question - inheritance tax...

[Jim1556]

As the government website isn't really that clear regarding such matters, here's one for the educated amongst you lot:

(All figures are exaggerated for clarity)...

Say a married couple of 30+ years. The bloke passes but has always dealt with the financial matters & had most of the marital assets in his name (shares, multiple homes, cars etc).

If his estate is worth (say) £2m, would any of this be liable for IHT or pass straight to the spouse (do not pass go Mr fking taxman or collect 40 fking %)...?

Assuming the will says everything to the spouse (as it should be).

[Jim1556]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I found that page but it was the This means the surviving partner’s estate can be worth up to £650,000 before any Inheritance Tax is due. that confused me...

IHT is disgusting and should be abolished!

[Jim1556]

No, as I said, that particular sentence was confusing...

I don't want or need anything, just don't want the government to get any more than they already have!

I'd be much happier if you could choose any liability to go to a charity instead!

[Jim1556]

Jesus! This thread went a bit nuts...

Anyway,

Burwood said:

Because it is the most basic human instinct . A private home, no matters it's worth should never attract taxation and there are no guarantees in life what age my kids will be.

My problem with IHT is simple, I have worked all my life so far, paid tax on all my earnings, if my estate is worth £1m when I go, I'll want to leave it to my daughter, the government can fk off touching my money as I've already paid the tax! She should absolutely not have to find circa £200k (out of my estate)! I know there are ways of minimising/avoiding liability, but I shouldn't need to!

As for 'it's got to come from somewhere', easy, abolish the House of Lords, trim the foreign aid budget, cap public service wages (there's no way a councillor should earn more than the PM), etc, etc...

[Jim1556]

RobinOakapple said:

If your kids should not have to pay tax on a house they receive despite not having worked for it, why does my builder have to pay tax on the money I pay him when he does have to work for it?

Easy, an inheritance is a gift, in the same way, your builder could receive a gift from you and not pay tax on it (think £1000 in a Christmas card)...

[Jim1556]

RobinOakapple said:

You may have paid tax on it, but your daughter hasn't. All the money you pay to anybody has already had tax paid on it, when it transfers to someone else they have to pay tax on it too. That's how tax works.

As I said, an inheritance is a gift! Completely different to earnings!

[Jim1556]

RobinOakapple said:

Not sure what's going on with the quoting system???

Let's not argue about semantics - the point is, I want to gift my assets when I die, not give a large % to HMRC who'll piss it up the wall!

It is absolutely NOT a fair tax, my daughter didn't earn it, but I did, and paid a fair amount of tax on it! (I don't believe 40+% is fair but that's another thread)...

[Jim1556]

Craigyp79 said:

There are people out there that have worked all their life, possible even harder than you, earning minimum wage and struggling to get by from day to day. These are the people that need the support of society, and the higher burden unfortunately rests on the people that have more money than others.

This is the society that you choose to live in and profit from, it is and never will be totally fair and the government should be working hard to try and make it fairer, unfortunately politicians seem to have forgot that this is there reason for being (if it ever was such..)

If you spend a large amount on supporting charities or volunteering for support groups then I do sympathise that you feel your daughter will be hard done by.

But if you are sitting there with a massive sense of entitlement looking down on those that don't and never will have the opportunities afforded to you, then you deserve all the tax you get.

My attitude isn't a reason to tax me though is it? And I have worked hard to get where I am - I'm not a poor little rich kid, if my daughter is turns into a sponging cow, then she'll get nothing, being self sufficient is something we should all aspire to (I'm not there yet, but will continue to try).

Some people have issues with multi millionaires, but if they've earned that, think how much tax they've already paid on that!

[Jim1556]

RobinOakapple said:

You have paid tax on it, possibly, but she hasn't. And btw, inheritance isn't a gift, if you want it to be a gift, then you will need to give it while you are still alive. Dead people are not able to give anything, or to do anything else apart from decompose.

The 7 year rule ignores gifts, whichever way you look at it, the government wants a chunk!

As an employee, there's no possibly about it, I've always paid my tax (not like I have a choice with PAYE).

[Jim1556]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I have no issues with multi millionaires. But I think the children of multi millionaires who inherit multi millions should be taxed on it.

And I speak as someone whose children may well end up paying IHT, although hopefully we'll live long enough for my wife and I to blow most of my money in retirement. That's the plan.

It's an admirable sentiment, but I'd rather my family get everything I leave rather than the state...

[Jim1556]

RobinOakapple said:

The sympathy I feel for people in that unfortunate situation is difficult to express.

You soft bugger you!

Taking that as an example, an estate worth £3m, both parents killed in an accident leaving 3 kids under 10.

IHT would be £940k (without complex accounting like trusts etc)...

£940,000 that the government is going to help themselves to!!!

Disgusting!

[Jim1556]

Burwood said:

this thread is like the religious threads- no moving someones opinion-well almost as bad.
flogging a dead horse-time to move on.

It's always a good debate anyway - even though they are wrong!

Ricky Gervais said it best:

'There have been nearly 3000 Gods so far but only yours actually exists.The others are silly made up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real...'

[Jim1556]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Spot on. Can someone explain why it's fair to tax earned income above £10600, but it's unfair to tax unearned income above £650K.

I'm sure I mentioned earlier in the thread, an inheritance is a GIFT and shouldn't be taxed. Earnings should be, though I think income tax should be no more than 40% but that's me.

[Jim1556]

singlecoil said:

Also mentioned earlier somewhere is the fact that inheritance is NOT a gift. Gifts can only be made by people who are alive. You can choose who it goes to, for the most part, but that's not giving, that's choosing. Because you can't take it with you.

And as I mentioned earlier, if I GIFT most of my estate 6 years, 11 months and 3 weeks beforeI peg it, the 7 year rule trumps that!!!

As happened to a friend of mine's nan...

[Jim1556]

Drumroll said:

Sorry don't get the OP's problem. He thinks it is unfair that if his parents die their estate will have to pay money to the government before he can get his hands on any money. Please can he explain why that is any different than a lot of families who have a modest asset in a house, which they scrimped and saved to buy and is Well below IT threshold. Who if they have to go into care, then have to use the sale of their house to pay for that care?

Er, nothing to do with my parents, my original question was about another relative and whether she'd be liable - as I said many pages ago, I neither want or need anything from it. The query was answered on the first page - this has just gone off on a tangent...

Selling the family home to pay for care is a completely different kettle of fish!