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Inheritance tax planning

Trust range

Using a bond in the appropriate trust can generate IHT savings, both immediate and in the future. Although trusts generally don't allow you access to your money in the future, our wide range includes trusts with some of the following features:

  • access to your original capital through fixed payments from the trust
  • access to your original capital for life
  • ad hoc access to your original capital as required

Of course, none of the trusts can offer all of the above, so to help you decide what trust arrangement would be most suitable, see our Trusts decision tree leaflet.

The trusts we offer are:

Discretionary Discounted Gift trust

This trust aims to reduce your potential IHT liability - immediately and in the future - while still giving you access to your money through regular payments.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- want to make immediate and future IHT savings
- are likely to survive for seven years after setting it up
- want regular payments from the trust
- are likely to be successful in the underwriting process

It may not be suitable if:
- you're unlikely to be successful in the underwriting process because of poor health and/or over 89 years of age
- want to put an existing bond into trust, as the trust can only be set up with cash
- are unlikely to survive for seven years after setting it up
- want to gift so much that the underwritten amount is more than your available nil rate band

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

Discretionary Gift trust

This trust aims to reduce the amount of your potential IHT liability by letting you make an IHT-efficient gift into trust for your chosen beneficiaries.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- don't need access to your money anymore
- want to be able to add or remove beneficiaries at any time
- are likely to survive seven years after setting it up
- want your chosen trustees to control who gets what and when, for example in the case of children

It may not be suitable if:
- you might need access to your money later
- you make a gift for an amount over your available nil rate band and don't want to pay immediate IHT

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

Discretionary Loan trust

This trust aims to reduce the amount of your potential IHT liability. The outstanding loan - which reduces as you take repayments and spend them - is part of your IHT estate, but the investment growth falls outside it.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- want to make IHT savings but aren't prepared to make outright gifts
- want access to the money loaned to the trustees, including ad hoc/regular loan repayments

It may not be suitable if:
- you want access to both the capital loaned to the trustees and the growth on the bond
- the loan is so large that the net trust fund will generate IHT anniversary and exit charges from year 10 onwards and you don't want these to arise

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

Bare Discounted Gift trust

This trust aims to reduce your potential IHT liability - immediately and in the future - while still giving you access to your money through regular payments from the trust fund.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- want to make immediate and future IHT savings
- are likely to survive for seven years after setting it up
- want regular payments from the trust
- are likely to be successful in the underwriting process
- are clear about who you want to benefit from the trust fund, and are sure this won't change

It may not be suitable if:
- you're unlikely to be successful in the underwriting process because of poor health and/or you're over 89 years of age
- you might change your mind about the amounts you want back from the trust and when
- you want to put an existing bond in trust
- you're unlikely to survive for seven years after setting it up
- you might change your mind about who you want to benefit from the trust fund

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

Bare Gift trust

This trust aims to reduce the amount of your potential IHT liability by letting you make an IHT-efficient gift to trustees on behalf of your chosen beneficiaries.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- don't need access to the cash or the bond anymore
- are likely to survive seven years after setting it up
- want to give your beneficiaries the right to demand their share of the trust assets
- don't want to change the beneficiaries, or their shares of the trust fund, in the future
- might want to add more gifts to the trust in the future

It may not be suitable if:
- you might need access to the money later
- you might want to change the beneficiaries or their shares of the trust fund in the future
- you don't want the beneficiaries to demand their share of the trust fund

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

Bare Loan trust

This trust aims to reduce the amount of your potential IHT liability. The outstanding loan - which reduces as you take repayments - is part of your IHT estate, but the investment growth falls outside it.

This trust may be suitable if you:
- want access to and control of the money loaned to the trustees, including ad hoc/regular repayments
- want to make some IHT savings
- don't want to make outright gifts of the original capital
- want your chosen beneficiaries to be able to demand their share of the trust fund from age 18 (16 under Scots Law) - even if the loan hasn't been repaid at this point
- won't want, in the future, to change either the original beneficiaries or their share of the trust fund

It may not be suitable if:
- you need access to both the capital loaned to the trustees and the growth on the investment
- you're likely to change your mind in the future about who the beneficiaries of the trust will be and what their share should be
- you don't want the beneficiaries to be able to demand their share of the trust fund from age 18 (16 under Scots Law)

Your financial adviser will be able to give you much more information about how the trust is set up and how it can make you IHT savings.

All references are to UK inheritance tax, which is generally only applicable to UK domiciled individuals.