I dislike taxes for one main reason: the government requires individuals to calculate their own taxes and imposes heavy penalties for mistakes. While I have no problem paying taxes as a US citizen, it seems strange to me that I have to do the paperwork when the government already has all the necessary information.
I don't regret the financial mistakes I've made in the past, as they've all taught me valuable lessons. However, my biggest misstep was planning my finances without consulting a licensed financial advisor.
I sought the guidance of a financial counselor, and as I near retirement, their advice has proven invaluable. I was initially concerned that compound interest on index funds wouldn’t suffice since I started investing later. It's quite amusing to realize that I’ve outperformed colleagues with more investment experience, having gained over $386k tax-free.
I did seek the help of a financial counselor, and as I approach retirement, their advice has been invaluable. I initially worried that compound interest on index funds wouldn’t be enough since I started late. It’s amusing to see that I’ve outperformed colleagues with more investment experience, having gained over $386k tax-free
@@lowcostfresh2266 This is definitely significant! Do you have any recommendations for professionals or advisors I could contact? I really need guidance on proper portfolio allocation.
This is definitely significant! Do you have any recommendations for professionals or advisors I could contact? I really need guidance on proper portfolio allocation.
One option is to leave the country, now made easier with the domicile rule changes. This will take 10 years for most to lose the 'tail' if the 7 year giving grace is not suitable for the individual.
A Joint life, second death, WOL, funded out of surplus income usually offer fantastic value (if taken out at a sensible age). The point at which the premiums equal the sum assured can be so far into the future that (to the client and their family) it ceases to be an insurance policy and actually becomes an investment.
In fairness I would rather give my money to an insurance company than the government for them to waste it , in fact I would rather give it to charity than the government
It feels like arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. if you don't want to pay IHT go somewhere it is not payable, there are many countries which don't charge IHT. Also in this video there is no mention of the Double or Triple Tax charge. Greedy Rachel saw a big pot of money and popped her snout in. Upended a lifetime of planning for many, and seems completely unfair to move the goalposts mid game. All existing pensions should be excluded from IHT as that was the agreement when paying it in. All new pension contributions can be whatever she decides, then people can choose whether they like the new pensions Tax structure, or decide that they are better off not saving 20% and spend it today.
This was budget was painful for me as I have a large pension fund. The real bugger from my perspective though is not the tax but who has to pay it. My children have to find the money to pay the tax before they can access the assets that they are going to benefit from.. This is just crazy as it just gives money to the banks as they would need a loan to pay the tax and then only pay that loan back when my house was sold. Also the IHT400 forms are a bureaucrats wet dream. I did my mother's which was 80 pages over 13 different forms even though there was no tax to pay as her estate fell below the thresholds. Most people will probably pay a solicitor to do it for them which will cost around £10K too.
I was in a similar situation (but the solicitors bill was nowhere near that much). My mother left my son her house. This is one thing to watch out for - leaving your house to a youngish person (e.g. grandchild) who does not currently own their own house. That means that they will now own your old house and so they no longer qualify as a 'first time buyer'. This will affect their LISA if they have one or any 'first time buyer' discounts on new houses inc. stamp duty, etc. One way around this is for the executor to sell the house first before distributing the proceeds (assuming the house is not wanted by the inheritor).
Thanks for watching. I do have serious concerns on the current administration setup with pensions due to be in the estate from 2027. It does appear likely to cause poor outcomes, wasted time etc.
Hi, records which are intended to fall in any exemption need to be kept in a clear record if HMRC challenge this at a later stage. There's not prescribed requirement, but we tend to record it internally and you can also use the area on the IHT400 form.
I thought the PET (potentiall exempt transfer) liability tapers off ie if die after 6 years then only the 1/7th remaining was considered taxable. But you imply the whole amount falls back into the inheritence liable amount !!! Thats doesnt sound right and/or is very unfair.
Hi, this is a great comment and it's actually something that got cut from the video as it was already too long! Tapering can apply to gifts but it applies to the tax, not the gift. What that means is that if it remains within the nil-rate band than tapering may not apply. I felt that while this is an interesting point, it wasn't core to the message in the video and wasn't worth the 5 minutes it would need to run through properly and give an example of. Thanks for watching.
You should take some advice if this is a factor for you. When I read the HMRC website on this point it appeared to me to say; "if you gift more than the nil rate band (e.g. £325K) then tapering applies, but if you gift less than that amount tapering doe not apply". So please DYOR to check my understanding.
@@stephen2203 in a nutshell, that's correct. Tapering applies to the tax, not the gift. Therefore if it falls back into the NRB then tapering won't apply. As you rightly say, this is a complex area and advice should be sought if any proper planning is being undertaken.
This doesn’t change the fact that Labour have shafted so many people. I have been putting everything into my DC pension so I can draw down growth to live off and leave the pot to my son. Now that will be taxed at 40% and if I live to 75, then he pays income tax too!! Gifting does not really help as my pot dwindles too much to live off the growth. I also have to guess when I will die! If I die tomorrow my estate will be taxed £300k just because I have planned for my future! I don’t even earn much.
The option of leaving the pot to your son only became possible in 2015 with Pensions Freedoms. Therefore, most of your contributions would have been made under the assumption of a compulsory annuity. The post-2015 loophole was always going to be closed.
I'm in much the same situation. If gold was not so expensive at the moment I'd consider taking £50k out per annum (far above what I need but just within the 20% limit) and using it buying sovereigns and hiding them in the garden, just remember to tell the kids and wife where you've buried them. I rather suspect its why this government doesn't like the modern day equivalent, bit coins. It feels like we may as well have spent our life irresponsibly, booze, partying and expensive holidays, leaving nothing for the tax man to pilfer off our not so cold corpses.
@@philldavies7940 after my pension, my next biggest investment is crypto. It is the best performing asset class and has been since it was created, though these financial advisors will never face that! I will never declare that, I will just give the wallet keys to my son.
In case you don't know Jon, Starmer has an act of parliament for himself so he pays less tax than us www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2588/contents/made
IHT is a diabolical tax and the most despised one. But people with reasonable assets can easily leave the U.K. for 10 years and the U.K. will lose out. Labour - I get the message. You don’t want us here . That’s fine. I’ll take my 3 companies & 1 charity and leave. Make everyone redundant and have a simpler life. Thank you Labour for making it such an easy choice 😊
@@bonditltd5346I'm sure it's Ok for some but I would miss my friends and family too much if I left and I only saw them on visits. It would be unreasonable to expect my children including their partners and my grandchildren to uproot themselves and move oversees just so I could save tax when I'm dead.
@@madeleinebell559 First - no one is asking you to. Second - It depends on the situation and provision involved. So if you have an individual that supports the whole family , that family also has a choice and it’s a financial decision - stay and pay the high inheritance, or leave ( probably to a sunnier, warmer country) and have it all. You’ll find it’s not a difficult choice. But if you’ve f”ck all, it doesn’t matter.
@madeleinebell559 only you can resolve your personal circumstances. However your family contact can be enhanced with regular 'Zoom' calls which are free these days (apart from any software costs). Personally, I have similar concerns to you. Labour have performed as expected and are applying their grabbing principles to everyone; work hard and build your life, save a little or a lot, and when you've finished the government will grab as much of what you've created as they can. Makes you wonder why you bothered. I am now figuring how to spend all my pension funds to minimise the taxable parts. I am also working on my family to encourage leaving the UK but they mostly don't want to leave their environment.
Thanks for watching. This is an answer with a lot of technical caveats, so to summarise it at a high level: - Not all transfers into trust are chargeable lifetime transfers and are subject to the 20% charge. So there is nuance there which needs to be considered depending on the trust structure. - While assigned a life policy into trust can be a chargeable lifetime transfer, unless the individual is in poor health there are unlikely to be any issues for term assurance as the policy is treated as its open market value, which would be nil. A term assurance generally only be available to someone in reasonable health and likely to survive to the end of the term, therefore typically at the outset it will have no value. - For an existing whole-of-life policy, there can be considerations here but this would really depend on the insurance value and time where it is considered being moved into trust. Many WOL policies are established with advice at the outset so I'd hope would have been advised with the correct trust structure. **All of the above is a general comment but may not be accurate to your circumstances. This can be a complex area and well beyond the scope of what I could cover with a comment, so if anyone is considering planning in this area, they should seek advice specific to them to ensure it is accurate.
Are you going to do a video on leaving the country ?, one of the under the radar changes made in the recent Budget appears to be the Gov extending the time you need to have left the uk for for 3 years to 10 years to not be liable for UK IHT. This is due to be in law from this coming April so does that mean if you formally (i.e notify HMRC) exit the UK before that date then you will only have the 3 year duration apply.
@@andyballard1883 Do you have any source of further information on this 3 years vs 10 years change? I was aware of the incoming 10 years stipulation, but the current 3 years is something I was not.
A crucial point not mentioned with regard to insurance written in trust is that the projected payout decreases over time . This was done 25 years ago for my mother by an 'advisor' and now after paying £1,300 per year premium the policy is only worth about a quarter of the project £100k payout at inception. Setting one of these up early i.e in your 50s can be a big rip off over the long term
I'm sorry to hear that about your Mum and the disappointment with the policy setup. Not all policies decrease over time (only ones with a stated decreasing term). These policies are typically used to cover mortgages. It would be very strange to set up a decreasing term assurance policy for inheritance tax planning unless it was specifically designed as part of a gifting strategy in which the estate value is reduced over time. I can't really speculate too much as I don't know, but it does appear to be an unusual setup and not what you'd typically see with most IHT planning.
@PrinciplesPersonalFinance At the time of setup she didn't even have a mortgage, it was sold to her as a way to cover the inheritance tax liability for her children and now 25 or so years later it would not pay out anything like the original amount. It's of little consequence now anyway because her house had to be sold to fund care home costs and at the best part of 100k a year I doubt IHT will be an issue
If Sarah gifts this money, would she be affected by the £100 interest rule? Ie, if her child earns £100 interest from their savings, is this to be reported to HMRC and Sarah could potentially be taxed on this.
A lot is being made of IHT, but it's actually the one tax that I don't really care much more - I mean, I'm not going to be the one paying it. I think it's much more fruitful to really optimize around the basics of drawing as much income at as low a rate as possible. Pensions were never intended to be a wealth pass-down vehicle, and imo it's right that they are bought into line with the rest of the tax code in this regard.
I think that's a very fair and reasonable view on it. I also hear you about pensions and wealth preservation vehicles. Like all these things with taxation and governments, I think the 'goalposts moving' is unhelpful, but we have to deal with the world as it is, not as it should be.. Thanks for watching!
Agreed - and include to this “middle aged” people - not sure if Principles Personal Finance, and UK advisers like them, are ever allowed to say anything of this option. Maybe the UK is an island unto itself and not part of the continent (?)
@@nasirmahmood5684 I get that I agree....I just hate the way the UK civil servants just cannot be straight with people, this is why it's one big game, one side trying to catch the other out all the time....I would prob head to the US
Why shouldnt people pay tax on an inheritance hand out?Some people get four lots of hand outs,when their own grand parents pass and then their parents pass.Double that when their partners grandparents and parents die.I was in a charity shop when the manger and the paid assistant were talking about the enormous amount their mothers had left them,why they needed to take someone else employment opportunity was beyond me.
You're confusion avoidance and evasion. The rules are designed to allow people to avoid or plan around certain taxes. Our entire pension system works on this understanding, as does child benefit claims. I believe taxes play an important role in our society and people should pay what they owe. However, paying more tax than you're supposed to is not a badge of honour.
@PrinciplesPersonalFinance semantics if you ask me.Rich people employ people to minimise their tax liabilities poor people don't have that option. I lived in Jersey for a while and personally think tax havens should be shut down. I stand by my statement that what you are doing in the uk would be illegal in France.
I dislike taxes for one main reason: the government requires individuals to calculate their own taxes and imposes heavy penalties for mistakes. While I have no problem paying taxes as a US citizen, it seems strange to me that I have to do the paperwork when the government already has all the necessary information.
I don't regret the financial mistakes I've made in the past, as they've all taught me valuable lessons. However, my biggest misstep was planning my finances without consulting a licensed financial advisor.
I sought the guidance of a financial counselor, and as I near retirement, their advice has proven invaluable. I was initially concerned that compound interest on index funds wouldn’t suffice since I started investing later. It's quite amusing to realize that I’ve outperformed colleagues with more investment experience, having gained over $386k tax-free.
I did seek the help of a financial counselor, and as I approach retirement, their advice has been invaluable. I initially worried that compound interest on index funds wouldn’t be enough since I started late. It’s amusing to see that I’ve outperformed colleagues with more investment experience, having gained over $386k tax-free
@@lowcostfresh2266 This is definitely significant! Do you have any recommendations for professionals or advisors I could contact? I really need guidance on proper portfolio allocation.
This is definitely significant! Do you have any recommendations for professionals or advisors I could contact? I really need guidance on proper portfolio allocation.
One option is to leave the country, now made easier with the domicile rule changes. This will take 10 years for most to lose the 'tail' if the 7 year giving grace is not suitable for the individual.
A Joint life, second death, WOL, funded out of surplus income usually offer fantastic value (if taken out at a sensible age). The point at which the premiums equal the sum assured can be so far into the future that (to the client and their family) it ceases to be an insurance policy and actually becomes an investment.
In fairness I would rather give my money to an insurance company than the government for them to waste it , in fact I would rather give it to charity than the government
Politicians with their gold plated civil service pensions don't have to worry about this, they take the high payouts and it dies with them anyway...
Excellent info, thanks.
Thank you! Appreciate you watching.
So I haven’t got any children but my late wife did. What happens about the additional nil rate band?
That nill rate band disappearing is so annoying over 2mill
It feels like arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. if you don't want to pay IHT go somewhere it is not payable, there are many countries which don't charge IHT. Also in this video there is no mention of the Double or Triple Tax charge. Greedy Rachel saw a big pot of money and popped her snout in. Upended a lifetime of planning for many, and seems completely unfair to move the goalposts mid game. All existing pensions should be excluded from IHT as that was the agreement when paying it in. All new pension contributions can be whatever she decides, then people can choose whether they like the new pensions Tax structure, or decide that they are better off not saving 20% and spend it today.
This was budget was painful for me as I have a large pension fund. The real bugger from my perspective though is not the tax but who has to pay it. My children have to find the money to pay the tax before they can access the assets that they are going to benefit from.. This is just crazy as it just gives money to the banks as they would need a loan to pay the tax and then only pay that loan back when my house was sold.
Also the IHT400 forms are a bureaucrats wet dream. I did my mother's which was 80 pages over 13 different forms even though there was no tax to pay as her estate fell below the thresholds. Most people will probably pay a solicitor to do it for them which will cost around £10K too.
I was in a similar situation (but the solicitors bill was nowhere near that much). My mother left my son her house. This is one thing to watch out for - leaving your house to a youngish person (e.g. grandchild) who does not currently own their own house. That means that they will now own your old house and so they no longer qualify as a 'first time buyer'. This will affect their LISA if they have one or any 'first time buyer' discounts on new houses inc. stamp duty, etc. One way around this is for the executor to sell the house first before distributing the proceeds (assuming the house is not wanted by the inheritor).
Thanks for watching. I do have serious concerns on the current administration setup with pensions due to be in the estate from 2027. It does appear likely to cause poor outcomes, wasted time etc.
THE UK SCREWS EVERY ONE , THE BARONS AND THEIR BANKS , nothing ever belongs to you ? Slavery on a grand style , from your cradle to your grave ?
How are modest gifts tracked re the 7 year period?
Hi, records which are intended to fall in any exemption need to be kept in a clear record if HMRC challenge this at a later stage. There's not prescribed requirement, but we tend to record it internally and you can also use the area on the IHT400 form.
Very reassuring, thank you
You're welcome Neil, thanks for watching.
Very helpful
Thanks, appreciate you watching.
I thought the PET (potentiall exempt transfer) liability tapers off ie if die after 6 years then only the 1/7th remaining was considered taxable.
But you imply the whole amount falls back into the inheritence liable amount !!!
Thats doesnt sound right and/or is very unfair.
Hi, this is a great comment and it's actually something that got cut from the video as it was already too long! Tapering can apply to gifts but it applies to the tax, not the gift. What that means is that if it remains within the nil-rate band than tapering may not apply.
I felt that while this is an interesting point, it wasn't core to the message in the video and wasn't worth the 5 minutes it would need to run through properly and give an example of.
Thanks for watching.
You should take some advice if this is a factor for you. When I read the HMRC website on this point it appeared to me to say; "if you gift more than the nil rate band (e.g. £325K) then tapering applies, but if you gift less than that amount tapering doe not apply". So please DYOR to check my understanding.
@@stephen2203 in a nutshell, that's correct. Tapering applies to the tax, not the gift. Therefore if it falls back into the NRB then tapering won't apply. As you rightly say, this is a complex area and advice should be sought if any proper planning is being undertaken.
This doesn’t change the fact that Labour have shafted so many people. I have been putting everything into my DC pension so I can draw down growth to live off and leave the pot to my son. Now that will be taxed at 40% and if I live to 75, then he pays income tax too!! Gifting does not really help as my pot dwindles too much to live off the growth. I also have to guess when I will die! If I die tomorrow my estate will be taxed £300k just because I have planned for my future! I don’t even earn much.
The option of leaving the pot to your son only became possible in 2015 with Pensions Freedoms. Therefore, most of your contributions would have been made under the assumption of a compulsory annuity. The post-2015 loophole was always going to be closed.
I'm in much the same situation. If gold was not so expensive at the moment I'd consider taking £50k out per annum (far above what I need but just within the 20% limit) and using it buying sovereigns and hiding them in the garden, just remember to tell the kids and wife where you've buried them. I rather suspect its why this government doesn't like the modern day equivalent, bit coins.
It feels like we may as well have spent our life irresponsibly, booze, partying and expensive holidays, leaving nothing for the tax man to pilfer off our not so cold corpses.
I totally agree. I have been paying into my pension for 20 years, only for these second class thieves to try and take it all
@@aaronclarke7839 most of my contributions have been in the last 10 years. I put half my salary into my pension, I put the minimum in 10,years ago
@@philldavies7940 after my pension, my next biggest investment is crypto. It is the best performing asset class and has been since it was created, though these financial advisors will never face that! I will never declare that, I will just give the wallet keys to my son.
Starmer and his bastard colleagues are also wealthy so there must be a loophole that they are using to escape these punitive taxes?
In case you don't know Jon, Starmer has an act of parliament for himself so he pays less tax than us www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2588/contents/made
IHT is a diabolical tax and the most despised one. But people with reasonable assets can easily leave the U.K. for 10 years and the U.K. will lose out.
Labour - I get the message. You don’t want us here . That’s fine. I’ll take my 3 companies & 1 charity and leave. Make everyone redundant and have a simpler life. Thank you Labour for making it such an easy choice 😊
Surely this is only an option for people with no family &/or friends they would miss.
@ people are allowed to visit and can take family with them. Good Friends will visit. There’s no downside
@@bonditltd5346I'm sure it's Ok for some but I would miss my friends and family too much if I left and I only saw them on visits. It would be unreasonable to expect my children including their partners and my grandchildren to uproot themselves and move oversees just so I could save tax when I'm dead.
@@madeleinebell559 First - no one is asking you to. Second - It depends on the situation and provision involved. So if you have an individual that supports the whole family , that family also has a choice and it’s a financial decision - stay and pay the high inheritance, or leave ( probably to a sunnier, warmer country) and have it all. You’ll find it’s not a difficult choice. But if you’ve f”ck all, it doesn’t matter.
@madeleinebell559 only you can resolve your personal circumstances. However your family contact can be enhanced with regular 'Zoom' calls which are free these days (apart from any software costs). Personally, I have similar concerns to you. Labour have performed as expected and are applying their grabbing principles to everyone; work hard and build your life, save a little or a lot, and when you've finished the government will grab as much of what you've created as they can. Makes you wonder why you bothered. I am now figuring how to spend all my pension funds to minimise the taxable parts. I am also working on my family to encourage leaving the UK but they mostly don't want to leave their environment.
Surely though you can only put £325k into a trust without a 20% charge ?
Thanks for watching.
This is an answer with a lot of technical caveats, so to summarise it at a high level:
- Not all transfers into trust are chargeable lifetime transfers and are subject to the 20% charge. So there is nuance there which needs to be considered depending on the trust structure.
- While assigned a life policy into trust can be a chargeable lifetime transfer, unless the individual is in poor health there are unlikely to be any issues for term assurance as the policy is treated as its open market value, which would be nil. A term assurance generally only be available to someone in reasonable health and likely to survive to the end of the term, therefore typically at the outset it will have no value.
- For an existing whole-of-life policy, there can be considerations here but this would really depend on the insurance value and time where it is considered being moved into trust. Many WOL policies are established with advice at the outset so I'd hope would have been advised with the correct trust structure.
**All of the above is a general comment but may not be accurate to your circumstances. This can be a complex area and well beyond the scope of what I could cover with a comment, so if anyone is considering planning in this area, they should seek advice specific to them to ensure it is accurate.
Are you going to do a video on leaving the country ?, one of the under the radar changes made in the recent Budget appears to be the Gov extending the time you need to have left the uk for for 3 years to 10 years to not be liable for UK IHT. This is due to be in law from this coming April so does that mean if you formally (i.e notify HMRC) exit the UK before that date then you will only have the 3 year duration apply.
Hi, no I'm not. There's a host of rules around this and it's just not content that interests me or I think applies to the majority of my audience.
@@PrinciplesPersonalFinance Thank you for taking the time to reply 👍
@@andyballard1883 Do you have any source of further information on this 3 years vs 10 years change? I was aware of the incoming 10 years stipulation, but the current 3 years is something I was not.
A crucial point not mentioned with regard to insurance written in trust is that the projected payout decreases over time . This was done 25 years ago for my mother by an 'advisor' and now after paying £1,300 per year premium the policy is only worth about a quarter of the project £100k payout at inception. Setting one of these up early i.e in your 50s can be a big rip off over the long term
I'm sorry to hear that about your Mum and the disappointment with the policy setup.
Not all policies decrease over time (only ones with a stated decreasing term). These policies are typically used to cover mortgages.
It would be very strange to set up a decreasing term assurance policy for inheritance tax planning unless it was specifically designed as part of a gifting strategy in which the estate value is reduced over time. I can't really speculate too much as I don't know, but it does appear to be an unusual setup and not what you'd typically see with most IHT planning.
@PrinciplesPersonalFinance At the time of setup she didn't even have a mortgage, it was sold to her as a way to cover the inheritance tax liability for her children and now 25 or so years later it would not pay out anything like the original amount. It's of little consequence now anyway because her house had to be sold to fund care home costs and at the best part of 100k a year I doubt IHT will be an issue
If Sarah gifts this money, would she be affected by the £100 interest rule? Ie, if her child earns £100 interest from their savings, is this to be reported to HMRC and Sarah could potentially be taxed on this.
Isn't that for actual children? I'd assumed "Sarah's child" was an adult...Sarah is 78.
@Mallarkey Sarah adopted, her child is aged 12. How does this work?
A lot is being made of IHT, but it's actually the one tax that I don't really care much more - I mean, I'm not going to be the one paying it. I think it's much more fruitful to really optimize around the basics of drawing as much income at as low a rate as possible.
Pensions were never intended to be a wealth pass-down vehicle, and imo it's right that they are bought into line with the rest of the tax code in this regard.
I think that's a very fair and reasonable view on it. I also hear you about pensions and wealth preservation vehicles. Like all these things with taxation and governments, I think the 'goalposts moving' is unhelpful, but we have to deal with the world as it is, not as it should be..
Thanks for watching!
Be a member of the royal family?
True...
Message to young people …. UK is shite…..Leave !
Agreed - and include to this “middle aged” people - not sure if Principles Personal Finance, and UK advisers like them, are ever allowed to say anything of this option. Maybe the UK is an island unto itself and not part of the continent (?)
Before you leave, go explore other places. You might regret packing your bags.
3 gone. 1 am actively pushing to Canada. £2M UK paid for their education and UK gets £0.
@@nasirmahmood5684 I get that I agree....I just hate the way the UK civil servants just cannot be straight with people, this is why it's one big game, one side trying to catch the other out all the time....I would prob head to the US
@@nasirmahmood5684 I am - currently in Cyprus - no IHT here and gorgeous sun
Why shouldnt people pay tax on an inheritance hand out?Some people get four lots of hand outs,when their own grand parents pass and then their parents pass.Double that when their partners grandparents and parents die.I was in a charity shop when the manger and the paid assistant were talking about the enormous amount their mothers had left them,why they needed to take someone else employment opportunity was beyond me.
Change your name to Milliband and change your father's will. Simples!.
The irony of this company call itself principles.In France its illegal to advise people how to avoid tax. Should be in the uk too.
You're confusion avoidance and evasion.
The rules are designed to allow people to avoid or plan around certain taxes. Our entire pension system works on this understanding, as does child benefit claims.
I believe taxes play an important role in our society and people should pay what they owe. However, paying more tax than you're supposed to is not a badge of honour.
@PrinciplesPersonalFinance semantics if you ask me.Rich people employ people to minimise their tax liabilities poor people don't have that option. I lived in Jersey for a while and personally think tax havens should be shut down. I stand by my statement that what you are doing in the uk would be illegal in France.
Only 4% pay any inheritance tax !!!!!! Pay your tax !!!!!