Inheritance tax is payable when the value of an estate exceeds the nil rate band. The inheritance tax nil rate band has been £325,000 since 2009 and will remain frozen at this level until 5 April 2015. Inheritance tax is payable at a rate of 40% on the amount over the nil rate band.

Gifts left in a Will to UK charities have been exempt from inheritance tax for many years. However, on 6 April 2012 changes came into effect that reduces the rate of inheritance tax payable by an estate to 36% if at least 10% of the estate is left to charity.

Changes to the inheritance tax rate form part of the Government's 'Big Society' initiative to encourage charitable giving and the Legacy10 campaign launched in November 2011. The aim is to encourage more people to remember charities in their Wills.

In order to qualify for the reduced rate at least 10% of the net value of your estate must be left to a qualifying charity. The net value is the sum of your assets after deducting any debts, liabilities, reliefs, exemptions and the nil rate band. A qualifying charity is one that is recognised as a charity for tax purposes by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and will have a unique charity reference number.

To work out whether the reduced rate applies, your estate and your assets are broken down into three components as follows:

• assets that you own jointly with someone else that pass by 'survivorship'
• assets in trust
• assets that you own outright or as tenants in common with someone else

The tax position for each component may be treated differently and it may be possible to merge one or more components to gain the maximum benefit from the reduced rate of inheritance tax.

You can work out the calculation using the steps detailed below but HMRC’s website has a useful “reduced rate calculator”.

Step 1 - work out which assets fall into each component - remember not all estates have all three components.

Step 2 - add up the assets then deduct any debts, liabilities, reliefs and exemptions that apply to each component.

Step 3 - apportion the Inheritance Tax nil rate band - including any transferable unused nil rate band from a spouse or civil partner - between the number of components being used and any assets classed as ‘gifts with reservation’.

Step 4 - deduct the apportioned value of the nil rate band from each component.

Step 5 - add back in the value of the donation to charity - this result is the 'baseline amount' for each component.

Step 6 - divide the baseline amount by 10.

Step 7 - work out whether the charitable donation is more than the result of the sum at step 6.

The benefit of the changes to a charity in practice will be four times greater than the cost to the estates beneficiary, as HMRC will shoulder the burden of 76 pence for every pound donated, whereas the estate pays only 24 pence. For example, if the gross value of the estate is £500,000 and you deduct the nil rate band of £325,000 that leaves a net value of £175,000 which would be subject to inheritance tax. If there were no charitable gifts left in the Will the total inheritance tax payable at 40% would be £70,000 leaving a final estate balance of £430,000. In the same circumstances, if a charitable gift of £17,500 (10% of the net value of the estate) was made in the Will the total inheritance tax payable under the current 40% rate would be £63,000 leaving a final estate balance of £419,500. However, under the new rate of 36% the total inheritance tax payable would be £56,700 leaving a final estate balance of £425,800. What this shows is that whilst your beneficiaries would receive £4,200 less, HMRC would get £13,300 less tax than before.

If you would like to discuss making changes to your Will in light of the new inheritance tax provisions then please contact Rebecca Goldsworthy on 029 20 222 685 or rg@freedandco.com who will be happy to discuss matters with you.

Moving home, they say, can be the most stressful experience that you are likely to encounter throughout your life.  We are here to help you through the buying and selling process and this document outlines the various stages of your move.  Here at Freed & Co we are committed to providing help and guidance through every stage.

Before we start we will need you to provide evidence of identification; this is checked in a variety of ways (in common with banks and building societies when opening an account). We will also ask you to instruct us to carry out various tasks on your behalf such as filing a tax return on your purchase.  Please help us by completing and returning the forms that we send you as soon as you can.

Selling

1. Please contact us as soon as you have, or are likely to receive an offer, so that we can carry out the following:-
 (a) Apply for the title deeds from the lender (necessary to enable us to produce the final contract).  
 (b) Give you a breakdown of the costs involved, including a redemption figure in anticipation of redeeming your mortgage. 
 (c) Send you a Sale Questionnaire and Fixtures and Fittings List to complete, this forms part of the contract with the purchaser.

2. A draft contract is sent to the purchaser’s lawyer, together with all the supporting documents.  The contract then has to be approved and once this has happened we will ask you to sign this and other documents so that we are prepared for exchanging contracts.

3. When the purchaser’s lawyer has received the local searches and their client’s mortgage offer and is satisfied as to the title, we will negotiate a completion date and the amount of the deposit with them, taking into account your instructions.  Provided all parties are satisfied contracts can then be exchanged.

4. On the completion date, the property must be vacated and be clear of all your  possessions (other than those which you have agreed to leave) by 12 noon leaving the  keys to the property with the estate agents, unless other arrangements have been made  and agreed to. From the proceeds sent to us by the purchaser’s lawyer we will pay off  the mortgage (if any) and settle the estate agent’s invoice.

Buying

1. When you have made an offer to buy a property, the estate agent may want you to pay a deposit.  Should this happen, this will be allowed for on the financial statement on completion.  Please tell us if you have paid a deposit.

2. As soon as we know that you have made an offer, we will ask you to complete a purchase questionnaire, the answers to which will help us with our enquiries of the seller’s lawyer.  Searches will need to be carried out both for your benefit and to satisfy your lender so you will be asked to send us a payment to enable us to carry these out.

3. The seller’s lawyer will send us the draft contact. As soon as we receive this we will:-

 (i) Apply for searches as appropriate.

 (ii) Examine the contract and title.  We may feel it necessary to raise additional enquiries of the seller’s lawyer.  When we are satisfied that all is in order, we will send one copy of the contract to the seller’s lawyer and retain one copy for you to sign.

4. Where borrowing is required to buy the property, the mortgage offer must be received from the lender in advance of exchange of contracts.

5. If you are arranging any new life policies, we must have received acceptance of risk from the insurers before exchange of contracts.

6. When we have received all the requested searches, offer of mortgage and have satisfied ourselves as to the title, we will write to you detailing the terms of the mortgage (if there is one), the results of the searches and details of the title (covenants and leases where appropriate) and ask you to sign the contract and mortgage deed.  The amount agreed as a deposit on exchange will need to be received and cleared before exchange of contracts can be carried out.  Where there is a related sale we will normally be able to arrange for the amount received from your buyers to be taken as a deposit on your purchase and subsequently it passes up the chain where appropriate.

Exchange of Contracts

1. We are now ready to exchange contracts. However it may be that there are other people involved in a chain - in other words your seller is buying a property in which someone resides who requires to purchase another property.  Your buyer may also be involved in a chain. This is where it gets complicated as everyone wants to move in and complete their sale and purchase on the same day so as to avoid any “bridging” finance.  This is where we come in, we arrange and organise the completion date that will suit all parties.  This sometimes means that the date that you would like to move on cannot be met. This is because we have to wait for everyone in the chain to have gone through the same process as you, i.e. that they have:
 (i) A mortgage (where appropriate)
 (ii) The required searches have been carried out
 (iii) The title and contract has been approved
 (iv) A completion date or dates have been suggested

Obviously it is not always possible to arrange a date that is satisfactory to everyone.  However we will do our best and will be in constant contact with the estate agents and lawyers until the completion date has been agreed and exchange is carried out.

2. When exchange has taken place, the completion date is legally binding (your buyer would lose at least their deposit if they did not proceed) so you can now go ahead and arrange your move.   Below are some of the things that you will need to deal with:-

• Arrange contents and buildings insurance (we can provide a quote for this).
• Contact the following and arrange for meters to be read and accounts transferred to your new address where appropriate:-
    - Gas
    - Water
    - Electricity
    - Telephone/cable services
    - Book the removal van.
   
• Cancel Standing Order for Mortgage payments, after exchange of contracts
• Notify local authority of move and ask for council tax to be apportioned to the date of moving.
• Notify the following of the change of address
    - Insurance/Assurance companies  
    - National Savings/Premium Bonds
    - Banks and Building Societies
    - Employer  
    - Schools
    - Doctor and Dentist     
    - DVLA      
    - friends and relatives
    - Make arrangements for family/friends to look after any children and pets on the moving day!
• Contact Post Office for mail to be re-directed

Completion

1. We will send you a statement of account showing you all the monies received and paid out.  Where there is a balance required to complete we will need to have this four days before the day of completion.

2. On completion day, if you have a related sale, we have to wait for the buyer’s lawyer to transfer the sale money before we in turn, can send the money to your purchaser’s lawyer. For this reason it is unusual for the keys to be available for your new purchase until lunch-time on the day of completion.  Please contact us before vacating your old house to ensure that it is in order for you to move. Where there is just a purchase it is normal for us to transfer the money early in the day, however you are unlikely to receive the keys before midday as you have to allow time for the buyer to vacate the property.

Finally

We hope you will have found this guide helpful.  If at any time you have a problem or are worried about anything please contact us.  We are proud of our service and if you are, then please recommend us to your family, friends and colleagues!