Estate and succession planning
Protecting your lifestyle and safeguarding your legacy
When managing your wealth, you have two main objectives — to have sufficient funds to support your lifestyle and to ensure that your estate is distributed according to your wishes in the most tax-efficient way.
Estate planning provides the tools you need to guide your loved ones and safeguard your legacy, allowing your wealth to have a direct and lasting impact. You work hard to grow your wealth; let us help you preserve it wherever you may be in your financial journey, across both planned and unanticipated life events.
Your family or other beneficiaries may be liable for inheritance tax on your assets when you die. This can be a massive burden, forcing them to borrow money or sell part of the inheritance you leave them to cover their tax bill. Whole-of-life cover (Section 72 policy) removes this burden and protects loved ones from a large inheritance tax bill. Whole-of-life cover is different to regular life cover in that it lasts for a lifetime and not a specific term.
The benefits of estate and succession planning
Inheritance Tax Ireland
If you leave your assets to someone other than your spouse or civil partner, they could be liable to inheritance tax of 33% on the value of these assets. Assets are things like your home, savings or possessions. Inheritance tax is payable to the Revenue Commissioners when the value of the assets inherited is higher than a certain threshold amount.
A whole-of-life policy can be used to help offset this inheritance tax liability. You do this by setting it up as a “Section 72” life insurance policy. This is a special insurance policy approved by the Revenue Commissioners under Section 72 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003. This means that as long as you have the right amount of cover, the assets you leave behind, like your family home or holiday home, will not need to be sold or borrowed against to pay the tax.
Our experienced financial advisors will be able to assist you in selecting the best plans and vehicles suited to your specific requirements, such as regular gifting and the various available trust vehicles and ensuring that your pension death benefit nominations are up to date.
If you are planning on leaving assets to your family or others on death or wish to gift assets during your lifetime, there is a real risk that the value of these assets will be significantly reduced by succession taxes, whether personal or business assets. Therefore, it is more important than ever to plan ahead using available structures and exemptions where possible to benefit you, your family and the next generation.
With proper planning, a tax liability can be mitigated or removed completely using the following methods:
- Using life assurance (Section 72 relief) to pay Capital Acquisitions Tax on death
- Using savings (Section 73) to pay gift tax
- Annual gift exemption and use of trusts
It’s important you ensure that your estate is distributed according to your wishes in the most tax-efficient way, to protect your family and loved ones. We’re here to help. Speak to one of our expert financial advisors, who will construct the most tax-efficient succession plan for your and your family’s needs.
DC and Private Wealth Leader for Mercer Ireland
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Protect your lifestyle and safeguard your legacy
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