Poll: Poll: Inheritance tax

Inheritence Tax?

  • Scrap inheritance tax and increase stealth taxes

    Votes: 19 8.7%

  • Scrap inheritance tax and add it to fuel

    Votes: 20 9.2%

  • Scrap inheritance tax, day dream and get the government to cut expenditure

    Votes: 129 59.2%

  • Accept the government needs the money and keep inheritance tax

    Votes: 50 22.9%
  • Total voters
    218
I can't be bothered frankly, it's only five minutes since we last did this.

To all intents and purposes, it is a tax on the recipient of the inheritance.

You know, Harley or whoever he is posting as now can make long pseudo-intellectual posts about this subject but long posts and clever words won't alter that fact.
 
dirtydog said:
I can't be bothered frankly, it's only five minutes since we last did this.

To all intents and purposes, it is a tax on the recipient of the inheritance.

You know, Harley or whoever he is posting as now can make long pseudo-intellectual posts about this subject but long posts and clever words won't alter that fact.
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But it's not, it has nothing at all to do with the recipent or their financial circumastances, and everything to do with the size of the deceased estate.

Nothing at all gets anywhere near the recipients until after the tax has been cleared.

We have been through this repeatedly, and you still refuse to accept it because from your viewpoint, it's much more palatable to present it as a tax on recipt of money, when it isn't at all, and never has been.
 
IHT is here to stay - the HMRC are likely to get 3.5 billion this year from IHT and tax 89,000 estates this year - that's up 89% from 7 years ago.

As someone who advises clients on IHT and Wills etc, it is something that a little bit of simple planning can go a long way to reducing an Estates IHT bill.

So many clients do not understand that a Will is the first point of call to help you reduce your estate. Simple paragraphs input into your will can save up to £114k in IHT upon the death of the first person.

"there is nothing more certain in life than death and taxes".

never a truer word spoke.

It's here to stay so we need to get used to it and start planning for it.
 
dirtydog said:
Do you understand what "to all intents and purposes" means?
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Yes, but the above situation doesn't qualify, because there are many situations where what I would get is independant on the tax status of the estate...

If you said "in some situations, it is to all intents and purposes, a tax on the reciepient", I'd be able to agree....
 
Dolph said:
I can imagine your opinion would change pretty fast if it was actually affecting you...

Picture this situation, imagine you live at home, and your parents house is worth £500k (not unrealistic in many parts of the country). Both your parents get killed in a car crash on the way home one night.

You are left the estate, but by the time the various expenses/debts are taken out, all that's left is the house.

How are you going to pay the inheritance tax to keep living in the property you've lived in all your life?
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Then I'm afraid you'd imagine wrong, as my parents' estate is probably in the region of £600k.

You sell the house. What's the threshold at the moment......£275k? So from a £500k house that's 40% to pay on £225k, £90k. You still end up with £410k, not exactly going to leave you destitute is it?

Yes it's sad that 'the family home' will have gone - but a lot of the people complaining seem to be those still living at home. Once you've grown up and have your own life and own house then the loss of a property is hardly the end of the world.
 
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Dolph said:
Yes, but the above situation doesn't qualify, because there are many situations where what I would get is independant on the tax status of the estate...

If you said "in some situations, it is to all intents and purposes, a tax on the reciepient", I'd be able to agree....
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I don't take back what I said this morning (my views on IHT) but I apologise for the way I said it - was in a tinsy bit of a bad mood :o :)
 
Von Luck said:
Then I'm afraid you'd imagine wrong, as my parents' estate is probably in the region of £600k.

You sell the house. What's the threshold at the moment......£275k? So from a £500k house that's 40% to pay on £225k, £90k. You still end up with £410k, not exactly going to leave you destitute is it?

Yes it's sad that 'the family home' will have gone - but a lot of the people complaining seem to be those still living at home. Once you've grown up and have your own life and own house then the loss of a property is hardly the end of the world.
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I have grown up, own my own home etc... Still doesn't mean I believe IHT to be a fair or valid form of taxation, especially as grabber brown has managed to expand the scope of it dramatically over the years (much like he did with stamp duty)
 
What are the main objections to writing in an exclusion for a family's first property? This seems to solve the major issues that people have? Politically, it seems to be a good idea as well. The only downside is a cut in the amount of revenue, but I'd be curious to see a breakdown of the 2.7bn raised by IHT against the value brackets of estates that it's levied on.
 
locutus12 said:
i believe perhaps there should be a system to claim back a percentage of inheritence tax based on the inheritors yearly earnings and savings.
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That's a great idea as I would gain from that right now :)
 
growse said:
What are the main objections to writing in an exclusion for a family's first property? This seems to solve the major issues that people have? Politically, it seems to be a good idea as well. The only downside is a cut in the amount of revenue, but I'd be curious to see a breakdown of the 2.7bn raised by IHT against the value brackets of estates that it's levied on.
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Would be great. Except what's to stop you selling your cheap house and buying a house that happens to be worth the whole of your assets at that point? No IHT!

As far as I can see, you either implement something as you suggest - but very carefully to stop abuse. Or you raise the threshold to something more believable - maybe even tie it to average house price in your area. Or, more favourably, scrap the whole thing & raise somthing like income tax a little - £3bn is not a lot in relative terms.
 
I don't really agree with inheritance tax, but then I'm not a big fan of tax of any kind. However I was listening to people on TV the other day moaning about the fact they now have to pay inheritance tax where as in the past they wouldn't have because their house was worth much less. Then it struck me how ridiculous their argument was. Oh you poor sods. Your house has gone up so much you now have to pay more tax. It must be killing you, I bet you can't sleep at night.

The government should face up to the real problem which is the housing shortage. Then the ridiculous situation people find themselves in now would be a thing of the past for all concerned. The only problem is, it’s the same people that moan about inheritance tax that also moan about the prospect of property development in their area because it might affect house prices. Talk about wanting you cake and eating it
 
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Stretch said:
I don't really agree with inheritance tax, but then I'm not a big fan of tax of any kind. However I was listening to people on TV the other day moaning about the fact they now have to pay inheritance tax where as before they didn't because their house was worth much less. Then it struck me how ridiculous their argument was. Oh you poor sods. Your house has gone up so much you now have to pay more tax. It must be killing you, I bet you can't sleep at night.
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They're not exactly planning on selling the house though, are they? They just want to live as they've always lived - in the same place. They're not exactly benefitting from the house price increase, just stung for £100,000s everytime someone dies.

It may be only one 'legal' owner of the house, but to the people there it's a family home.
 
dirtydog said:
Is there any other reason it is a great idea other than that you would personally benefit from it? ;)
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Yes it is also a good idea because it's fairer. If inheritance tax is a tax on the recipient (and I think it is) then surely their circumstances should be taken into account?
 
needs to be looked at, we're going though this atm, £285k and then you get taxed, these days isn't a lot with the average cost of a 1/2 decent home, and then 40% there after 40% come on !
appearantly the taxing scum bags reason for no changing it is, you can get round it by 'gifting' anything gifted falls outside the taxmans gaze
i cant' believe it, you get taxed the hell out of whilst alive paid taxes on everything you buy and then run, and after all that tax, if your not careful you'll get the smeg taxed out of you when your even dead.
it either needs to be changed completely or the bar raised to say £500k

Merry Christmas king john / i mean the future PM :mad:
 
TBH its probably better to leave inheritance tax. At least people can get out of paying inheritance tax. If it was scrapped, they'd put it onto something like fuel duty, which, unfortunately, no one can get out of paying.

The reason they make so much off inheritance tax is because people don't think ahead and just don't really care about it, but if you think ahead and plan for it, you can pretty much get round it.
 
Gaygle said:
TBH its probably better to leave inheritance tax. At least people can get out of paying inheritance tax. If it was scrapped, they'd put it onto something like fuel duty, which, unfortunately, no one can get out of paying.

The reason they make so much off inheritance tax is because people don't think ahead and just don't really care about it, but if you think ahead and plan for it, you can pretty much get round it.
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That's not true for those who aren't super wealthy. My uncle for example had to live off his capital and could not afford to distribute any monies before he died.
 
Gaygle said:
The reason they make so much off inheritance tax is because people don't think ahead and just don't really care about it, but if you think ahead and plan for it, you can pretty much get round it.
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Don;t like the words "get round it" - should be plan for it!! but i know what you mean.

As i said before a simple piece of instruction in your will can immediately save £114k in IHT. (285k x40%).

A little bit of simple planning can go a long way to potentially (the important word here) saving a lot of money in IHT.

Again as repeated before. IHT IS NOT TAXED ON THE INDIVIDUAL BUT THE ESTATE THAT IS CREATED ON THEIR DEATH!!

No individual pays IHT but the estate must pay the IHT bill before probate (in scotland) can be obtained and the residual estate is passed on in accordance with the will, or intestate laws if no will has been written.
 
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