Inheritance tax planning is not something that should be looked at once and then forgotten about.
The planned changes to the treatment of pensions from April 2027 are a good reason to look at it again.
For property owners, particularly in London and the South East, the family home can already make up a large part of an estate. Add savings and investments and an estate can be getting close to £2 million before pensions are even taken into account.
As I covered in my previous blog (Pensions and the Residence Nil Rate Band: A Risk Worth Understanding), this matters because the residence nil rate band starts to reduce once an estate exceeds £2 million.
From April 2027, bringing pensions into the inheritance tax calculation could therefore make quite a difference for some families, with it potentially increasing the taxable value of their estate.
But it is not just about the pension.
Your property may be worth more than when you last reviewed your inheritance tax position, and your savings or investments may also have grown. Changes in your family, health or financial priorities could also affect whether your existing arrangements remain appropriate.
It is worth looking at everything together and seeing what your estate could look like under the planned new rules.
For some people, nothing will need to change. For others, there could be more inheritance tax to consider than they previously expected.
There is still time before April 2027 to review where you stand and whether the planning you already have in place still works as you intended.
At Wingate Financial Planning, we can help you look at the whole position rather than just the pension changes. That means understanding where you stand today, what could change from April 2027 and whether there is anything you need to consider.
