Postby iwmtaxadvisor » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:56 am
Hello Jim,
There is missing information in your post, most importantly where you now live and if you have acquired a domicile of choice where you now live (or want to), and your wife's domicile.
Problem:
But at the heart of it is - do your estate expect to have to pay IHT on the transfer of your houses to your wife - yes.
Legislation:
Two reasons, and some guesswork here that they are applicable to you -
(a) almost no IHT spousal relief for a non-dom spouse (for a UK dom high net worth individual) https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm11033
b) fixed assets in the UK are subject to IHT at least in theory https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/when-someone-living-outside-the-uk-dies
Alternatives:
A) an obvious one is to look to see if you want to acquire a domicile of choice where you now live, by looking at the consequential local estate tax implications
B) put the properties in a company and move the share holding around now. This has got recently quite complex to maintain
C) put the properties into trust now, and you can't get anywhere with analysing this alternative until you know where you live
D) put the properties in joint names, that reduces by more than half the value in your estate on first death
E) create leaseholds assuming you own the freeholds and gift the freehold now
Is it worth getting advice:
If your combined estate is going to be over 2m then definitely. If the combined estate is the size you quote, go for the simplest cheapest alternative and you may be able to self direct.
More help
Courses are available to help people decide between the alternatives.