Death and taxes we all know are the two certainties of life, unfortunately the first is out of our hands but we can help you do something about the tax problems your death might cause to those you leave behind. None of us relish the thought of the taxman getting his hands on a large proportion of our savings, investments or pensions or the idea that because we failed to plan our dependents might suffer a reduction in their standard of living and may even have to move out of the family home and see their future income curtailed.
As an expat the problem is compounded with both the UK and Spain both wanting a piece of the action. When you die and using different rules and regulations it seems that if you escape tax one way you end up paying it somewhere else.
One thing is certain though, doing nothing could have disastrous consequences and leaving it too late can be almost as bad in that the options available quite often narrow with age and future life expectancy.
Of course we all see some wonderful ideas proposed; pay us a few thousand pounds and we will transfer your property into a company; have this type of pension and your beneficiaries can inherit tax free; do this type of trust structure and there will be no inheritance tax etc etc. In certain situations these responses might be ideal but do they really look at the problem holistically and put in place a proper programme that will work moving forward. After all there is not much point in solving the property issue if you have significant investable assets elsewhere or putting in place an arrangement that fails to take account of your current needs whilst you remain alive.
The most important thing is to speak to an adviser who can put in place a proper plan that takes account of your overall financial position, that looks at your domicile status and your lifetime needs for income and capital as well as the likely needs of your beneficiaries.It goes without saying that your adviser should understand the tax rules relating to death charges in both your home country and Spain and how these rules might interact. Not a lot of point in cleaning up your Spanish position and finding that your estate suffers a large tax charge courtesy of HMRC.
One of the core areas that Fiduciary Wealth focuses on (and hardly surprising as we have our roots in a major legal practice) is putting solutions in place that will help you transfer your wealth on death in the most tax efficient and cost effective way. Wouldn’t it make sense to arrange an appointment with one of our advisers at a local tax and wealth clinic to go through your personal situation and work out a plan that will suit you and your loved ones? Call Tel: 956796911 or email enquiries@fiduciarywealth.gi .
