The Panama Papers scandal could have a positive impact for private client lawyers, says Carla Brown
While the recent revelations and widespread media coverage surrounding the Panama Papers and David Cameron’s mother’s inheritance tax (IHT) planning have been negative, it could have positive benefits for private client lawyers.
I say this because the “tax avoidance scandal” has helped raise awareness of IHT planning generally, with a good few of the national papers that have personal finance sections pointing out that IHT and, more broadly, estate planning are a very sensible thing to do. As a result, what was often seen as a subject worthy of only occasional coverage by the media has recently received a great deal of mainstream attention.
There’s a second benefit and that is, while our traditional and routine tax planning tools, such as the use of statutory reliefs and exemptions like business property relief, agricultural property relief, capital and small gift allowances, normal expenditure out of income, gifts on marriage, potentially exempt transfers (PETs) etc may not be as sexy as the image
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