The Telegraph – May 2015
By Liz Hodgkinson
When Liz Hodgkinson’s partner died suddenly in 2004, she was left with the headache of sorting out his will. Her inheritance tax diary will move and disturb you.
David Cameron’s pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to up to £1 million by 2017 sounds generous, but actually it won’t make all that much difference to those left behind who have to deal with this hideous tax.
All it means, in reality, is that the current individual tax-free allowance rises from £325,000 to £500,000 for an individual and from £650,000 to £1 million for a couple on the family house alone. All other assets such as stocks, shares, artwork, money in the bank, will be subject to the tax as before.
So why doesn’t Cameron do the decent thing and abolish IHT altogether as they have done in Australia, instead of tinkering round the edges? The Australian government may now be looking at ways to raise taxes, but it has said it will not plunder the assets that a person leaves after their death. More…
