According to The Financial Times, Jeremy Hunt is planning to run a ‘stealth raid’ on inheritance tax in the Autumn statement on Thursday (17 November), as he tries to raise the money required to fill a hole in the UKs public finances.
One of the ways he plans on doing this is by extending the freeze on the inheritance tax nil rate band until 2027-2028.
House price rises, pension guarantees, and historic economic factors have all helped the Baby Boomer generation accumulate wealth – along with hard work of course.
They’ve amassed so much wealth in fact that the planned movement of their money to their loved ones via inheritance is now known as the Great Wealth Transfer. It’s reported that a total of £5.5 trillion will be passed from the Baby Boomer generation to Generation X and Millennials over the next 30 years… and it appears the government want a slice of that pie.
The nil rate band is set at £325,000 where it has been since April 2009. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average house price in the UK is now £296,000, a significant increase on the average in April 2009 when it was around £159,000. Last year house prices rose by roughly 10%, if they carry on their upward swing, more and more individuals will suffer inheritance tax during the run up to 2028.
This tax will no longer hit high net worth individuals alone, but also ordinary families. As estate planning professionals, you know the importance of having a Will in place. It saves families from further heartache and stress after their loss, whilst also helping them navigate the complicated world of inheritance tax.
Perversely, thanks to Jeremy, your client base might get a lot bigger very soon.
Helping more families means your practice will need to scale, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you need to hire more staff. Driving efficiencies into your business through technology can help streamline workloads, meaning you can get more done during the same time allotted. It also means your team can spend more time with clients, rather than spending half of their time on boring admin.
To find out how you could scale your business with technology, try our Will drafting software ROI calculator here. Or to find out how you can reach more families online, look at our Online Wills software and Intestacy Lead Generator.