Jail for evading tax

Earlier this year a 56-year-old woman was sent to jail for two years because she lied to the tax office about an inheritance.

The case came about because the tax office saw that a friend’s bank account was being used. She was doing this to support her friend as well as to hide money and evidence of her spending from her family.

The tax office has released the details in an attempt to prevent others from understating inheritances to. And, based on the size of the lie, it works out that she is going to serve one day in jail for every £1,164 of tax she was trying to evade. I don’t think it helped that she also lied about gifts made to her before the inheritance.

Currently only estates below £325,000 are not subject to the tax – above that estates are taxed at 40%. However, married couples and civil partners pay no tax on the first £650,000.

The amount of inheritance tax paid has been rising in recent years as house prices and stock markets have recovered so it could be time to review you and/or your wider family’s tax planning.

There are many ways to reduce inheritance tax. I you would like some help contact us.