Trusts
Welcome to the section of our website especially for people requiring legal services for their own personal needs.
For a more detailed discussion of your requirements, free of charge and without any obligation, please contact Bernard Ory on 01623 460444 or by e-mail personal@agr-solicitors.co.uk.
Trusts
You may want to set up a trust in your lifetime or through your will to e.g. minimize tax, deal with family problems etc.
Making a Trust, either during your life time or in your Will (to take effect after your death) can be an invaluable tool in ensuring your family money stays just there - in the family. It is particularly important for saving Inheritance Tax, and also ensures that you retain an element of control over Trust funds during your lifetime.
If you would like to talk to someone about the process and benfits of preparing a Trust, please contact Bernard at our Mansfield office on 01623 460444.
Trusts lose CGT Benefits
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) law allows chargeable gains to be deferred in some circumstances through the operation of 'hold-over relief'. In essence, when the criteria for hold-over relief are met, the person to whom the asset in question has been transferred takes it at the base cost for CGT purposes of the donor, as opposed to the market value at the date of transfer. CGT is then not payable until the recipient realises the asset and is calculated on the original cost.
The Government has toyed with this relief and with the tax position of trusts in recent years. From 10 December 2003, hold over relief has not been available where an asset has been transferred to a trust in which the settler or the settler's spouse has retained an interest.
More recently, the tax position has changed to deny trustees the CGT exemption relating to a principal private residence where a property has been transferred into trust and hold-over relief claimed. Such transfers are an often-used device where it is wished to transfer a second home to a child for them to use as their main residence.
Says Bernard Ory "The legislation contains specific exemptions for arrangements involving disabled persons, but in general capital taxation is becoming a more complex area and the most effective capital tax planning is done with care and foresight".
The Government is planning to correct the current anomaly by which the tests for deciding residence for Income Tax and CGT differ somewhat and is consulting on the position regarding residents of the UK who are not domiciled here. Domicile is an important concept for both Inheritance Tax and Income Tax.
We can advise you on the tax implications of foreign residence and domicile as well as attend to tax and estate planning and trust creation.
