High net worths rejig estates as inheritance tax overhaul looms
The high-net-worth clients of a leading wealth manager are rearranging their estate planning to get ahead of potential changes in the Budget, fearing the Chancellor will mount another inheritance tax grab to help plug the Treasury’s £30bn fiscal hole.
Rathbones said that interest from its customers in inheritance-related advice has “risen sharply” since the start of the summer, with 43 per cent of those with £5m in investable assets expecting to need advice on estate planning in the next year.
The rush for advice follows a string of leaks in the run-up to the Budget that suggest Chancellor Rachel Reeves will look to target the record amount of money sitting in UK individuals’ pension pots and savings in a bid to shore up the UK’s parlous finances.
The Treasury is rumoured to be examining ways to cap the amount taxpayers are able to gift to their offspring and family members during their lifetime without it being liable for inheritance tax. Under the current rules, donations made seven or more years before a person’s death do not come under the orbit of the unpopular levy, while those given between three and seven years are taxed on a scale between 32 per cent and eight per cent known as ‘taper relief’.
Ministers are also expected to bring pensions into the scope of inheritance tax in April 2027, which will see unused pension pots and death benefits – a generic term for payments made to someone’s beneficiaries after their death – taxed at the standard IHT rate.
How might the Treasury change inheritance tax?
Simon Bashorun, head of advice at Rathbones Private Office, said the rumours, which will not be clarified until late November, meant his clients faced “a prolonged period of speculation [that] is a bane to financial planning”.
“Clients are understandably keen to get ahead of any potential changes, particularly around inheritance tax, gifting, and retirement planning,” he added.
Any change to inheritance tax at the government’s second Budget would come despite the Treasury’s previous tilt at reforming the wealth levy being branded the ‘family farm tax’ and setting off a string of well-attended protests across the country.
In an attempt to close what they saw as an unfair loophole, ministers chose to remove a decades-old carve-out from inheritance tax enjoyed by owners of farmland and family businesses, known as Agricultural Property Relief, and Business Asset Disposal Relief.
Bashorun added: “Since the significant changes to the inheritance tax (IHT) regime in the last Budget, speculation has continued to swirl. Clients, especially those with seven-figure pension pots, are reassessing their long-term plans and asking whether they should act before the Autumn Budget.”