Chancellor backtracks on “will” tax

Good news this week, with the announcement that Gordon Brown has back-tracked on his proposed changes to Inheritance tax on trusts.

This was following a concerted campaign by the legal and accounting professions who pointed out that the changes affected the wills of everyone with a life insurance or pension policy written in trust for someone, something that affects millions of people and would have resulted in 5 million wills needing to be re-written.

Next week: the importance of a simple life interest trust for people in second marriages.

Huge increase in personal insolvencies

Latest figures show a huge increase in personal insolvencies in the fourth quarter of 2005, with 20,461 people in England and Wales, going bankrupt or entering an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA). This represented a 57.1% increase on the same period a year ago, with over a third of the cases being IVAs, the biggest jump.

Personal insolvencies for the first quarter of 2006 show a further substantial increase to 23,000.  The 2006 total is now expected to exceed 100,000.

Thank you to Isobel Brett of KSA for this data. If you would like further information on bankruptcy or individual voluntary arrangements, email isobelbrett@ksabr.com

How to get everything you ever wanted from your business!

You put a lot of time and effort into your business but have you ever really thought about what you want out of your business?

The problem with running a business for a number of years is that it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations and it is easy to lose sight of your goals and ambitions.

Our strategic planning specialist Malcolm Palmer has worked with hundreds of businesses that had lost sight of their goals and has a very high success rate in helping them to achieve what they want.

Because of Malcolm’s success in strategic planning he has been asked to speak at an event organised by local businesses. The aim of the seminar is to help you to identify what you want out of your business and ways you can go about achieving your goals. Malcolm has been able to secure ten free places (first come, first served) for our clients.

The seminar will take place on 28th June at the Thistle Hotel at Brands Hatch. The seminar will start at 8am prompt, refreshments and bacon rolls will be available from 7.45. If you are interested in attending please email jenny@stephen-hill.co.uk