Accountants don’t take time enough for themselves for Inheritance Tax planning, especially when they’re younger. That’s one of the points our tax consultants Rachel Davies and Andrew Symons intend to hammer home in their conference presentation on IHT for accountants at next week's Virtual Tax Partner Practical tax conference.

Accountants, it seems, are much like the rest of the population. None of us is immortal but by not planning for the future, there seems to be a belief you can take it with you.

“The reality is that there’s a full spectrum of IHT planning amongst accountants, but certainly younger practices and practitioners tend to spend the time they could use for planning, working for fee-paying clients and probably sorting out their IHT issues,” said Mr Symons. 

They also note that there are accountants who go to the other end of the spectrum. “Some of them plan to the extreme, with complex structures and constant reviews. we often don’t feel that’s necessary, good IHT planning doesn’t need to be overly technical or difficult,” Rachel added. 

They both make a couple of recommendations:

  • Take time and begin inheritance planning early.
  • Don’t make your planning too complicated.
  • Be alert to legislative changes, small changes might have big long-term implications.

Day 1 of our two day Virtual Tax Partner Practical Tax conference explores topics that are close to every accountant's heart:

How to make lots of money out of your practice

  • How to run the most tax efficient accounting practice…ever!
    • Preach what you practice. In an ideal world, what 20 steps can you take to maximise your own income and your business income? What are you going to be recommending to your clients in 2022?
  • Selling up and moving on: CGT reliefs
    • Sell or die! Don't lose £100,000s and miss out on those valuable capital tax breaks! In this session we take you through out top ten tips and pitfalls, as we examine the quirks of BADR and other capital tax reliefs.
  • IHT Planning for accountants
    • Two things are certain: no one is immortal and worldly goods are probably of no use in an afterlife (if one does exist). Do you avoid inheritance tax by spoiling yourself and your relatives or do you want to plan carefully and maximise IHT tax reliefs? We will help you to choose!
  • Group Q & A and topical discussion based on the morning's sessions

Useful guides on this topic

IHT (Inheritance Tax): allowances & rates
What are the current rates and allowances for Inheritance tax?

IHT Business Property Relief: estate planning
How can you use Business Property relief (BPR) to its maximum advantage through the interaction with other Inheritance Tax (IHT) reliefs?

IHT: Estate planning checklist
This checklist covers some of the essential planning points that taxpayers should know when planning for their estate and Inheritance Tax (IHT).

2021 Virtual Tax Partner Conference
Our 2021 Virtual Tax Partner 'VtaxP' practical tax conference takes place over two half-days on 12-13 October


Small acorn
If you like our content come and join us.

Thousands of accountants and advisers and their clients use www.rossmartin.co.uk as their primary TAX resource.

Register with us now to receive our receive our FREE SME Topical Tax Update & newletter