"Barry provided me with some very good inheritance tax planning advice. I found him to be very impartial unlike many other IFA's I had met. Everything was in the client's interest, and he's very professional"
John Louth
Henley-on-Thames

Paragon Independent Financial Solutions Ltd is an appointed representative of Sesame Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Sesame is entered on the FSA register www.fsa.gov.uk/register/ under reference 150427.

The FSA do not regulate some forms of mortgage and Inheritance Tax Planning.

Inheritance Tax Planning

How does Inheritance Tax work?

Everyone has a 'nil rate band'. No IHT is payable on this portion of an estate. Above this level, IHT is payable at a rate of 40%.

The nil rate band is £312,000 for 2008/09. This means that the IHT payable on an estate of £400,000 would be £35,200, calculated as follows:

£(400,000 - 312,000) x 40%.

The table below gives an indication of the IHT payable on different size estates.

There are various IHT exemptions, the most significant being the inter-spouse exemption. No IHT is payable between legally married spouses. This ensures that there is no tax due, when a husband leaves everything to his wife, or vice-versa.

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