An IHT solution for clients who owned a business

When Geordie Bulmer’s client sold his business, he knew that it would be important that the proceeds were invested carefully to help the client achieve his goals for the future. 

“He was cautious about what to do,” recalls Bulmer, an independent financial adviser at AISA Retirement Planning in Bristol.

“He’d never been a flamboyant person, he’d never had a lot of money because he was building up his business. And then suddenly he’d got all this cash.” 

The client, a man in his seventies, had sold his business for £3 million. He wanted advice on what to do with the money. 

“He was thinking, maybe do something to the house, have a fair amount that he can live on and take an income from, and maybe give some away to start to mitigate inheritance tax on his estate,” explains Bulmer.

That’s when Bulmer introduced his client to a piece of estate planning that can be particularly useful for clients who have sold a business within the last three years. 

An inheritance tax solution for proceeds from the sale of a business 

It was straightforward: take some of the proceeds from the sale of the client’s business and use them to buy shares in one or more businesses expected to qualify for Business Property Relief (BPR).

Bulmer assessed his client’s needs, attitude to risk and capacity to bear loss, and the client was happy to accept the additional investment risk that comes with these types of shares. 

In this particular case, the client had gone instantly from having very little inheritance tax exposure to over a million pounds after he sold his business. That’s because when he owned his business, it would have qualified for BPR. So had he died while owning it, the shares in that business could have been passed on free from inheritance tax.

After he sold the business and received the proceeds as cash, that cash was liable for inheritance tax if he passed away. However, as the client had sold his business in the last three years, and the shares in that business had qualified for BPR when he owned it, then because the proceeds were used to buy other BPR-qualifying shares, those new shares should be zero-rated for inheritance tax straight away. As long as the shares are held until death, they should be able to pass to beneficiaries free from inheritance tax.

Happily, the client in this case study is alive and well and enjoying his retirement. 

“And he feels good about having done planning with the aim of passing on as much as possible to his children and grandchildren,” concludes Bulmer. 

This type of planning won’t be suitable for everyone

BPR-qualifying investments put capital at risk, and the value of an investment and any income from it could fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the full amount they invest. 

Indeed, the relief exists to act as an incentive for investors to take on the risk of backing qualifying businesses with patient capital. That said, investors need to be aware that tax rules could change in future. Tax treatment is dependent on individual circumstances and tax relief depends on companies maintaining their qualifying status.

Volatility and liquidity are also considerations. The shares of unquoted companies and those quoted on the Alternative Investment Market can fall or rise in value by more than shares quoted on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. They may also be harder to sell.

This video helps explain how BPR can help 

If you have a client who is looking to sell their business, or who has sold a business in the last three years, it’s worth looking at BPR as one possible solution for an inheritance tax liability they may have.

There is a short video on the Octopus website that explains how BPR could help a client who has sold a business in the last three years. You can find it here.