PART ONE
Paul Lewis
TAX / MONEY NEWS
In the first of a two-part special on tidying up your finances, our columnist reveals why a marriage proposal is the best way to save tax
FINANCE
illustrations ELIOT WYATT
February 14th is a very special day. You can use it to avoid large chunks of tax for you and your heirs. That’s because the best tax plan is often to marry the one you love – or, of course, civil partner them, which is just as effective. And you can do either at a local register office for a couple of hundred pounds – including a bottle of Champagne afterwards.
Inheritance Tax
I know you all hate Inheritance Tax (IHT), but even after the Chancellor’s changes for farms and businesses and her extension of the freeze in thresholds until 2030, it will still only be about one in 11 estates that pays it. And there is a simple way to reduce it: leave everything to your spouse (or civil partner) and there is no IHT to pay when you die. Plus, when they die, their heirs will get double the usual allowances.