How to Save Money and Avoid Legal Income Taxes

You can avoid tax evasion and save your estate by giving your family or friends extra money. But if your income lasts for one year, how can you ensure that the tax works properly through this arrangement?

The effect of knocking

Inflation has caused many people 's income, whether it be income from work or investment, to decline over the past few years. That is bad news in itself but can have a devastating effect on taxes. If you rely on intellectual property tax (IHT) tax exemptions as "incoming gifts", your income could create another problem for you.

How much is the release?

Section 21 of the Income Tax Act of 1984 states that if you make a gift of your income, no matter how large, it will cease to be part of your estate for the purpose of IHT from the time you make it. That’s good news, as you’ll have to wait seven years before the gift becomes IHT. That makes "s.21 relief" a useful tax planning tool to keep your space low. But not all sailing is obvious.

Circumstances repeat

As you might expect, HMRC throws in a few situations. Unless you pay your full salary:

The first condition. The gift should be part of your “normal” expenses. "Normal" in this case means normal and expected.

The trap. If you do not make regular gifts, then, once a year, the release will not work.

The second condition. After giving the gifts you should have enough income to maintain your normal life. But there is a difference in this situation. If your income is low due to unexpected expenses, e.g. temporary costs of care, this can be ignored.

Also Read: Charted Professional Accountant Vaughan

Good plans are in place

Mention that several years back as part of your IHT program you started making regular gifts for your grandchildren. But your income has dropped to the level where you have to spend in your capital to make gifts. This would mean that they could lose their exemption status and could be detained at 40% IHT. What action should you take?

Not alone

First of all, don't worry about stopping gifts, because you can be sure if your salary is recovering to the point where you can cover yourself again. The law says "you can take a year alone" if you are looking at whether you have enough money. For example, even if your salary was not enough in 2013/14, as long as your 2014/15 salary will be enough to cover the debt, and any gifts from the 2014/15 salary, exemptions may still apply for both years.

Tip. Record keeping is important to prove that s.21 help is effective. You will need to be able to record all your income, expenses and gifts each year.

Advice from a horse's mouth

The HMRC guide on IHTM14250 states that if the gift is paid with a charted professional account,, we will accept it as a gift from the salary, no questions asked.

Tip. Transfer all cash gifts with your current account and keep a copy of your bank statement and spreadsheet.