The Business Relief Advantage is a Broker/Adviser Win

Useful advice is always welcome, so here’s a broker opportunity if you are active in the HNW sector;

New research with wealth managers and financial advisers by TIME Investments, the leading estate planning solutions provider, shows that Business Relief (BR) is now being used by the majority (83%) as an Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning tool for their clients. Many advisers like to incorporate BR into estate planning because it offers a faster route to IHT relief, requiring only two years to gain IHT exemption instead of seven years with gifting or trusts.

The research shows that 12% of advisers are now recommending BR at least once a month as their preferred IHT solution for clients, with a further 34% recommending it every three months. This means that almost half of advisers surveyed are recommending BR at least once a quarter. The majority (76%) are using it up to twice a year.

When recommending BR, 27% of advisers said they either use AIM BR services exclusively or more than unquoted services, which was something of a surprise given the relative volatility of the AIM index. However, the majority of AIM for BR purposes is held within an ISA, as this is the most straightforward way to ensure an ISA investment is free of IHT after 2 years, whilst maintaining the tax benefits of the ISA wrapper. A third said that they use quoted and unquoted in equal measure.