Paying Inheritance Tax

Newsletter issue - September 2015

Various rules exist for determining the time for payment of inheritance tax (IHT). In certain circumstances it will be possible to pay in installments, and it is even possible to settle a liability by transferring ownership of assets to the Crown (for example, a valuable painting may be donated to a national museum in lieu of an inheritance tax bill).

Unless it can be paid in installments, IHT is generally due for payment as follows:

Chargeable lifetime transfers: Tax is due six months after the end of the month of the transfer. But if the transfer is made between 6 April and 1 October in any year, the tax is due at the end of April the following year.
Estates: The personal representatives must pay the tax at the time that the IHT account is sent to HMRC, and this depends on the length of time it takes to sort out the estate.
PETs: Tax due on a potentially exempt transfer (PET) that becomes chargeable because of the transferor’s death within seven years needs to be paid six months after the end of the month in which the death occurs.

IHT is often due to be paid before the cash and assets left in a will are released to the beneficiaries. This means that the beneficiaries have to find the money to pay the tax elsewhere. The most obvious way to solve this problem is to take out a loan to pay the tax owed. The loan can then be paid off after cash from the estate is received or, in the case of assets, the assets are sold to raise the funds needed.

It may be worth considering a life insurance policy that will pay out on death and so cover any IHT arising on an estate. Remember, though, that HMRC may consider a life insurance policy to form part of an estate, so the plan should be set up under a trust. A fringe benefit of this is that all proceeds of the policy are paid free of tax.