Loan Trust
A loan trust is used to move future accumulation of capital outside of a taxable estate. It is a device for freezing or slowing down estate and IHT expansion.
- Limits growth in IHT liability
- Retain full access to initial investment
- Any growth is outside of your taxable estate
- Keep control over money and eventual beneficiary(ies)
- Money is invested according to risk
- Loan repayments as lump sums or regular payments
- Doesn’t reduce current IHT liability
The Loan Trust is an alternative to giving away capital for good…
Traffic light comparison
Access | Speed | Simple | Control | Cost | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gifting | |||||
Whole of Life | |||||
Loan Trust | |||||
Discounted Gift Trust | |||||
Flexible Reversionary Trust | |||||
Business Property Relief |
Please note: this graphic is subjective to change, not every expert will agree on the distribution of colours. There is much more to know before you act and that you should always seek financial advice first.
The original investment will form part of the estate, regardless…
Where use of the capital is likely to still be needed, an investor won’t be confident enough in their own financial stability that they can gift the money at this stage, so a Loan Trust is a decent blend of IHT control and access.
Loan Trusts for IHT Planning (in Practice)
Usually, it will become useful for marginal estates (estates that are close to or just over the available IHT thresholds).
It can be used for larger estates of course, where there is an intention to limit IHT, but access to the capital just can’t be foregone at this stage.
Following an IHT calculation and talk about required access and control a decision can be made on the best route, but due to the limited IHT savings that this plan type can offer, we would usually be looking to a different solution first.