Inheritance Tax: Gifting Smarter

The Times reported today that in 2022-23 14,030 lifetime gifts were liable to Inheritance Tax (IHT) on the death of the donor. The suggestion is that these gifts 'went wrong'. That isn't necessarily true, more likely that either the death was unexpected or the planning started too late and was a bit of a punt, rather than expected to be successful. It also has to be remembered that the gift value is based on the value at the date of the gift rather than the value at death. Had there been no gift, there may have been a good few years of income and growth on that asset that would have been within the estate. Failing to survive 7 years doesn't necessarily mean the planning failed completely.