How to write an inheritance tax planning suitability report with Genovo

Team Genovo

Although Genovo doesn’t have a separate IHT section, it has been designed to cover inheritance tax related advice and includes a number of products and planning techniques that an adviser will typically recommend to mitigate a client’s inheritance tax liability. So how do you write an inheritance tax planning suitability report using Genovo?

NEW FEATURES: A number of new features have been added and enhancements made to Genovo since this post was written. You’ll find an updated version of this article in our Knowledge Base. To read it click here. 

1. Spell out the client’s objective(s)

We’ve included “Inheritance tax mitigation and estate planning” as a standard advice option within the Client Objectives step of the Introduction section. However, as with any standard objective you select within Genovo, you should still personalise its wording and add comprehensive Know Your Client information to it. For example you could provide a brief overview of the client’s estate, any gifts they have made and the tax liability that is currently expected on death etc.

NEW FEATURE: Selecting the “Inheritance tax mitigation and estate planning” advice reason will also trigger the inclusion of the Inheritance Tax Technical Notes within the appendix of the report.

2. Confirm any existing provision

You should use the Existing Provision step of the Introduction section to briefly outline any existing arrangements the client already has in place to meet the expected IHT liability.

Remember details of any existing provision is now included as a sub-section of the Introduction section, and only those sub headings where text has been entered will be included within the report.

3.  Trust Recommendations

You are prompted to confirm whether the investment(s) you are recommending are to be written in trust within the Trusts step of the Investment Recommendation section, and a number of IHT-efficient trusts (e.g. Discounted Gift, Gift & Loan etc) are included for your convenience. If you select a particular trust, wording  relating to the workings and benefits of that type of trust will be automatically included within your report.

4. Business Property Relief IHT Scheme Investments

Within the Investment Recommendation section you can recommend BPR IHT Schemes or BPR IHT Scheme ISAs, we’ve also included Octopus, Ingenious, Time Investments and Close Brothers within the Provider Library.

5. Life Insurance

Within the Protection Recommendation section, you can recommend a Gift Inter Vivos (NEW FEATURE) or Level Term Assurance policy to cover the potential IHT liability that could become due on a potentially exempt transfer, or a Whole of Life plan to mop-up the IHT bill due on death. You can also recommend that the plans are held under a variety of different trusts.

NEW FEATURE: We’ve also added some extra logic to the Trusts step of the Protection Recommendation section so the text warning about specific trust wording is ONLY included when an actual trust is recommended.

6. Supporting Information

Finally, you should use the Supporting Information step within the Important Information section to signpost the reader to any other related documents / information that you have provided – Don’t bulk the suitability report out with unnecessary fluff! For example, this could be a general guide to inheritance tax planning, your original IHT discussion document, or your calculations showing the inheritance tax position pre and post recommendations.

We hope that helps. If you’ve got any questions or suggestions please do drop us a message.

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