If you are single or divorced current UK legislation allows the first £325,000 (2010/2011 Tax Year) of your estate to be free from Inheritance Tax, or £650,000 if you are married in a civil partnership or widowed (providing no previous gifts were made by the deceased spouse). With house prices continuing to rise, in 5 or 10 years time the value of your estate could have increased even more.

Whilst it is usually good news that your assets are growing in value, under current legislation the taxman could take a massive 40% of everything you leave over the threshold (known as the nil rate band). This means that the HM Revenue & Customs may receive considerably more from your estate than you may realise and many people are not aware of what they can do to mitigate this.

At Skipton Financial Services we believe that this tax can be reduced with some easy, straightforward planning. The Telegraph Inheritance Tax Planning Service aims to help you reduce this tax but retain control over your investments and estate. There are several ways in which this can be done, however, as everyone’s situation is different it can take considerable skill to identify the most appropriate solution for a particular set of circumstances. For this reason, specialist advice needs to be taken.

View the IHT Solutions »