Inheritance tax plans make things easier for high-earning couples
The inheritance tax ping pong between Labour and Conservative will make things easier for high-earning professionals, explains a leading industry expert.
Comments follow the announcement by the chancellor yesterday that he intends to double the threshold for inheritance tax to £600,000 for couples.
Ernst and Young tax partner Andrew Tailby-Faulkes told BBC Radio 4 that: “We all currently have a £300,000 exemption each and proposals today say that if a spouse or civil partner dies, then the survivor can add the nil rate band of £300,000, that might otherwise be wasted, to their own estate.”
But he explained that if the “quite wealthy” set up trusts it negates the need to “engineer their tax planning around the inheritance tax, because they will simply get the two exemptions on the second death”.
According to Mr Tailby-Faulkes the Conservative’s proposal of a £1 million exemption lacks the detail of Labour’s proposal making it difficult to say with certainty whether the same applies.
