Death is bad enough without having to pay tax on top, so it’s little wonder that people try to shelter their heirs from inheritance tax. It is a hot topic for the election, with the Labour Party suggesting that it could tighten the rules around reliefs.
Yet are some fee-driven inheritance tax schemes, promoted by City firms, even better at keeping the investment manager alive than the family fortune? It is a question being asked about one of the biggest: the inheritance tax service from Octopus Investments, aimed, it says, at “helping investors to pass on more of their wealth free from inheritance tax”.
The firm, part of the private Octopus Group co-founded by Simon Rogerson, Christopher Hulatt and Guy Myles in 2000, styles itself