There are some events that are so terrible that we choose to close our eyes to them and to enter into a state of denial. Although we know in our hearts that it is not true, we choose to think that they will not happen to us and yet they inevitably do. Our own deaths are such events. Although the desire to preserve our hard-earned wealth and to pass as much of it as we can to our families and friends when we can no longer use it is basic and one of the strongest of human desires, we tend to put off making arrangements to do so and avoid tax planning. And yet, if we can summon up the courage to face up to our deaths and inheritance tax, it can be a great comfort to know that there are steps we can take to ensure that more of our hard-earned cash is passed on to those we care for and who care for us and less of it will be used to replenish governmental coffers.

Have you that courage? If so this book will help you take those steps.

Inheritance tax is an intensely technical and increasingly important and complex subject, but this book is intended to give non-lawyers a more than basic understanding of the tax and to point them on the way to understanding how they can order their financial affairs and arrange their wealth in such a way as to pass on as much of it as they can comfortably afford to do so to those they care for, rather than leaving it for the state to dissipate. I do not claim that this book will enable the reader to carry complex schemes to fruition personally (no one who has not devoted many years to the study of the specialist subject of tax can hope to do that), but I hope that this book will enable you to see what your particular situation is and where and how it might be considerably improved. It will enable you to talk with your advisers intelligently and to judge their worth. It should also prove to be of value to law and accountancy students approaching the subject for the first time.

When writing the book I tried to avoid the use of jargon and technical terms whenever possible, but when dealing with a technical subject, for reasons of readability and accuracy, it is impossible to avoid technical terms and terms of art entirely and accordingly a glossary has been included to explain them, as far as possible, in simple, everyday language.

Throughout the book, for simplicity’s sake and not for any reasons of gender prejudice, I have assumed that the usual case of the male of the species predeceasing the female will occur and ‘he’ should be read as ‘she’ or ‘they’ where the context and circumstances so require.

The book deals with the law applicable to the United Kingdom other than the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man where revenue law differs. Moreover, law, practice and personal circumstances change frequently and while every effort has been made to ensure that the contents of the book are accurate and up to date, no responsibility is accepted for any loss resulting from acting or failure to act as a result of it and the book is sold and bought on that basis. In particular, changes that might be made to the inheritance tax nil-rate exemption band or tax rates by future Finance Acts should be borne in mind.

Crown copyright is acknowledged in respect of all statutory and governmental material quoted or referred to in the text.

Gordon Bowley