Making a gift to your family and friends while you’re alive can be a good way to reduce the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes and benefit your loved ones immediately. But estate and tax planning is a complex area.
The list below is usually treated as exempt:
• Gifts to your spouse
• Gifts of up to £250 to different individuals
• Donations to qualifying charities or political groups
• Gifts from surplus income
• Wedding gifts (£5,000 per parent, £2,500 per grandparent, £1,000 for others)
In addition, every person has a gift allowance of £3,000 per year. If you don’t use all of your gift allowance in a tax year you can carry it forward one year.
If you plan to make some gifts or you need advice on IHT then please get in touch.
