Inheritance, estate and gift taxes
Withers advises many of the world’s most successful families on how to pass their wealth to future generations.
Perhaps you are a US-UK couple looking to plan your estate, which includes assets in both jurisdictions. Perhaps you are not resident in the UK but are facing a double tax bill on an inheritance there. Perhaps you are UK resident and domiciled, but wish to make lifetime gifts to members of your family.
Whether your wealth is based entirely in your country of origin or is spread widely around the world, we can assist with inheritance tax planning. We use flexible trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies to ensure that wealth passes to the intended beneficiaries, and the government does not take more than its fair share.
Our international reach means that we are frequently asked to assist with cross-border cases where assets may be taxed twice. We also advise when penalties have been incurred, as in one case when we advised the widow of a British man whose otherwise English estate included a holiday home in the US. The estate administrators had not realised that US estate tax and UK inheritance tax would need to be paid on the property. A missed filing deadline led to our client facing penalties at a personally difficult time, however we were able to resolve the matter with the IRS, avoiding cashflow and administrative problems.
‘We’re best-placed globally to project-manage out of different offices in a time-sensitive way,’ says Chris King, a special counsel in our London probate team. ‘We bring together the entire picture to make sure the immediate succession processes work from a tax perspective.’
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