I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that she
may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying inheritance
tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same surname
as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable, but I
can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

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On 24/01/2024 15:45, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that
she may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same
surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these
would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an
upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable,
but I can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

The WWW is awash with websites that explain all this. Here's one: https://www.pardoes.co.uk/sites/default/files/Making%20Your%20Will%20-%20Common%20Expressions%20Leaflet.pdf

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Hi,

On Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at 3:58:14 PM UTC, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that she
may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable, but I
can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

Names make no difference.

If she is leaving her assets to a spouse (not their family!) then there
is no inheritance tax on those assets (not applicable in this case unless
she remarries!).

If she is leaving her assets to anyone else then inheritance tax is
applicable to those assets and once it has been paid then bequests
come out of what is left.

There is a £325k tax free allowance. This is transferrable from a
spouse if they left their assets to you - i.e. a married couple could
leave £650k inheritance tax free.

There are some extra allowances if a property (or its value) is being bequeathed to the deceased's offspring (which are £175k for the
deceased and potentially another £175k for a pre-deceased spouse).

In the "best" case you can die with assets up to £1m and not pay
inheritance tax.

Your neighbour needs to talk to the solicitor she is using to write
the will (she is using a solicitor isn't she?).

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"GB" <NOTsomeone@microsoft.invalid> wrote in message news:uord0t$1saqv$1@dont-email.me...

On 24/01/2024 15:45, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that she
may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying
inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same
surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these
would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's
relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an
upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable,
but I can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

The WWW is awash with websites that explain all this. Here's one: https://www.pardoes.co.uk/sites/default/files/Making%20Your%20Will%20-%20Common%20Expressions%20Leaflet.pdf

So it's payable on the portion of your estate that exceeds a threshold, but there's no mention of some beneficiaries having to pay it and others not, depending on matching surname of will-writer and beneficiaries.

I gather that money left to spouse or dependents (children/grandchildren) is subject to different limits compared with bequests to more distant relatives
or to non-relatives. I wonder if that is what my neighbour is thinking of.

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Hi,

On Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at 6:31:33 PM UTC, NY wrote:

"GB" <NOTso...@microsoft.invalid> wrote in message news:uord0t$1saqv$1...@dont-email.me...

On 24/01/2024 15:45, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that she >> may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying
inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same
surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these
would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's
relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an
upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable,
but I can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

The WWW is awash with websites that explain all this. Here's one: https://www.pardoes.co.uk/sites/default/files/Making%20Your%20Will%20-%20Common%20Expressions%20Leaflet.pdf

So it's payable on the portion of your estate that exceeds a threshold, but there's no mention of some beneficiaries having to pay it and others not, depending on matching surname of will-writer and beneficiaries.

As a general note, beneficiaries don't pay inheritance tax directly
(except in very unusual circumstances). The executor of the will
should calculate the value of the estate and work out the amount
of tax due (taking into account who the beneficiaries are). They
then pay the inheritance tax and distribute what is left to the
beneficiaries according to the will.

I gather that money left to spouse or dependents (children/grandchildren) is subject to different limits compared with bequests to more distant relatives or to non-relatives. I wonder if that is what my neighbour is thinking of.

The only people who get special treatment for inheritance tax are:

1. A spouse, any bequests to them are not counted when
assessing the amount of tax due.

2. Children / grandchildren, who have an additional allowance
in respect of the value of the deceased's property.

3. Charities, bequests to charities are not subject to
inheritance tax.

That is it, being dependant, more distantly related or having the
same name doesn't get you any special treatment at all.

Does your neighbour actually have assets over £325k? If
they don't then they don't need to worry about inheritance tax
at all.

As previously noted, depending on where her deceased
husband's assets went and whether she owns a property
she may not need to worry about inheritance tax if she
has assets up to £1m.

Your neighbour's solicitor should be able to explain all
this to her.

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On 24/01/2024 23:33, TTman wrote:

On 24/01/2024 15:45, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that
she may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying
inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same
surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these
would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's
relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an
upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be
payable, but I can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any
difference.

You neighbour has definitely been given false information by someone
that knows nothing about wills/beneficiaries etc.The surname of a
beneficiary plays no part in what they can receive...

This sounds a bit Irish where the distribution of an estate in the
republic differs considerably from the UK procedures.

Simplified enormously:

In the UK the estate defines the tax.The threshold before tax is paid is £325k. This is increased by £175k if your house is left to your children.

A spouse can leave their allowance to the surviving spouse.

These options bring the threshold to £1000k.

Tax is then paid at 40% on excess above the relevant threshold.

What remains is distributed to the beneficiaries of the will.


In Eire a beneficiary has his/her own threshold which is defined by the relationship to the deceased eg child / nephew / other.

--

Flop

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On Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:45:39 +0000, NY wrote:

I was talking to my neighbour and she believes that any bequests that
she may make in her will are only exempt from the recipients paying inheritance tax if their surnames are the same as my neighbour's.

She wants to leave some money to her own relatives who have the same
surname as her *maiden* name. She has apparently been told that these
would attract inheritance tax, whereas bequests to her late husband's relatives (whose surname is the same as her *married* name) are exempt.

I'd understood that you could leave money to anyone, irrespective of
surname, and no inheritance tax was payable. I imagine there may be an
upper limit on the amount of a bequest beyond which tax may be payable,
but I can't see how the surname of the recipient makes any difference.

A cynic might check the surname of the person giving the advice.

Cheers



Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

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