Tax breaks ‘may not lead to more charitable donations in Wills’

Posted 12/04/2011

People will not be significantly influenced by new tax breaks when it comes to bequeathing money to charities in their Wills.

This is according to Brian McMillan from the Society of Will Writers, who was commenting on chancellor George Osbourne’s plans to introduce an inheritance tax (IHT) reduction for people who leave ten per cent of their estate to non-profit organisations.

He pointed out that it is already possible for solicitors to help people to reduce IHT through wealth management strategies and said the society has not “got excited” about the new measures yet.

“It is a move in the right direction, which is trying to get the charities to do more, rather than [get] help from the government. I just don’t think it is going to do a lot, really,” Mr McMillan commented.

According to a recent Unbiased.co.uk poll, 87 per cent of Britons intend to leave everything to their family when they die.

However, 4.5 million said they would bequeath money to specific charities.