My claim for your tax bill!

Many people do not relish paying tax bills but some taxes are higher up the unwanted list than others. Probably top of the list is inheritance tax (IHT) pipping stamp duty land tax at the post. Whether it is in lifetime or on death IHT is seen as an unfair tax on generosity where much of the value has already paid tax. However in terms of tax planning an IHT charge can sometimes offer possibilities of reducing overall tax.

As a simple example suppose a husband and wife jointly own all the shares in an investment company holding properties worth £1m and the shares have minimal base cost. This is not as unlikely as it may seem because on good advice the company may have been funded with a director’s loan account which has since been repaid out of profits.

So now...