Charitable giving in Wills: charity must be governed by UK law to secure IHT exemption

The UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) saving is probably the last reason why anyone would deliberately choose to leave assets to charity in their Will.  However, it is the case that leaving assets to charity is very IHT efficient, for two key reasons.  Qualifying gifts are 100% IHT exempt – the charity will not have any IHT deducted from what is left to them.  In addition, from April 2012, the estate of anyone leaving at least 10% of their net estate to charity benefits from a reduced IHT rate of 36%.  The recent Court of Appeal case of Routier & Anor v HMRC ([2016] EWCA Civ 938) is a reminder, though, that, where the Will contains a foreign element, it is dangerous to assume that the IHT charity exemption will be automatic.

Long term UK resident non-doms set to lose remittance basis of taxation

Anyone who does not regard England as their permanent home (non-dom) but who has been resident in the UK for at least 15 out of the past 20 income tax years will wake up to a very different UK tax regime on 6 April 2017, according to a further consultation issued by the Government on 19 August.