Churchill Tax Advisers Help IHT Planning For Indian Born Clients

This query related to inheritance tax planning and came from an Indian born high net worth individual living in the UK for over 30 years. The client had a substantial estate in India and the inheritance tax position from UK perspective was not clear on these assets. Having researched the issue, we were able to advise that the deemed domiciled rules do not apply for individuals born in India and three other countries. This meant that provided certain conditions are met, there would not be any UK inheritance tax on assets based in India. The interesting part is that there is no inheritance tax in India so effectively (with careful planning), the Indian based assets can be passed to the next generation without any inheritance tax. This particular law is not covered by UK’s tax legislation and the source had to be verified to a double tax treaty with India from almost 60 years ago! This can open doors for tax planning for many wealthy Indian born individuals that have been living in the UK for some time. There are some traps for capital gains tax but once again with careful planning, this can also be avoided.