Inheritance Tax Planning in Poole & Dorset

Protecting What You’ve Worked For, For the People You Love

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Most families don’t set out to leave a large tax bill behind. It happens quietly – a house that’s grown in value, a pension pot built up over a working life, savings you never quite got round to spending. Nobody wakes up one morning and decides this is a problem. It just becomes one, usually at the worst possible time to deal with it.

Although we’re based in Poole, we work with clients across the UK who want the kind of personal, relationship-led advice a call centre or an app simply can’t offer – the same care and continuity we’ve provided our Dorset clients for over 30 years.

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Does Any of This Sound Familiar?

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Perhaps you’ve just spent a weekend going through a parent’s paperwork, and somewhere between the solicitor’s letters and the old bank statements, you found yourself thinking: I don’t want my own children to have to do this.

Perhaps you’ve recently come into an inheritance yourself – grateful for it, but quietly aware that it now sits in your estate, adding to a problem you hadn’t thought about before.

Perhaps a grandchild has just arrived, and you’d love to help toward school fees or a first home one day, but you’re not sure how to do that without causing complications later.

Perhaps you’ve just sold the business you spent years building, and amid everything else, nobody’s mentioned that the sale itself may have quietly changed your tax position.
Or perhaps it’s simply that you’ve turned 60, retired, or properly added everything up for the first time – the house, the pension, the investments – and the total surprised you.
If any of this rings true, none of it makes you unusual. It just means it’s time to look at things properly.

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Why This Catches More Families Out Than It Used To

Inheritance tax used to be something only the wealthiest families worried about. That’s changed – quietly, and largely without anyone deciding it should. House prices have risen – not least here in Poole and along the Dorset coast – pensions have grown, and the government’s allowances haven’t moved with them. As a result, ordinary, sensible families – the kind who’ve simply worked hard and saved carefully – increasingly find themselves caught by a tax that was never really designed with them in mind. (We’ve set out the exact current thresholds in the FAQs below.)

Why Choose Apex CB as Your Retirement Planning Adviser in Poole & Dorset ?

We’re fully independent — not tied to any product provider, platform, or pension company. Every recommendation our advisors make is based on what’s right for you across the whole of the market.

We’re also a small, personal practice. You won’t be passed between advisers or handled by a call centre. Many of our clients have been with us for years, in fact, some for decades. Why? Because they value continuity and trust the advice they receive.

Our office is at Holton Heath, just off the A35 between Poole and Wareham. We’re equally happy to meet remotely if that suits you better.
If you’d like a straightforward conversation about your retirement plans, we offer a free initial consultation with no obligation.

Sold Your Business? Your Position May Have Just Changed

While you owned and ran your business, its value very likely sat outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes, protected by Business Relief. It’s one of the most generous reliefs available – and one of the most overlooked the moment it disappears.

The instant you sell, that protection typically goes with it. The proceeds become cash or investments in your estate, fully exposed to the 40% rate in the same way as any other asset. Selling may have unintentionally increased the tax bill your family will eventually face.

The rules around Business Relief have also changed recently: from April 2026, the amount of qualifying property that attracts relief at the full 100% rate is capped, with relief at 50% above that level, and shares listed on markets such as AIM now qualify at 50%. In other words, the relief is still valuable – but the sums need doing more carefully than before.

Did you know? Reinvesting some of your sale proceeds into Business Relief-qualifying investments could restore much of the tax-efficiency you had as a business owner, in two years or less, depending on the reliefs and limits that apply to the investment chosen.

Gifting, Trusts and the Seven-Year Rule

Giving money away during your lifetime remains one of the most effective ways to reduce a future tax bill – but it’s also one of the easiest areas to get wrong. The seven-year rule, what genuinely counts as a gift, and how trusts fit in are all more nuanced than they first appear. We’ll walk you through your options honestly, including where something you’d assumed would work might not, so there are no unpleasant surprises later.

Passing on Pensions, Investments and Property

From April 2027, most unused pension funds will be brought into the taxable estate for the first time – a real shift for anyone who’s been using a pension as a tax-efficient way to pass on wealth. 

If that’s you, it’s worth reviewing your position before the change lands: how you draw your pension, whether your beneficiary nominations still make sense, and whether surplus pension income could be doing more. Beyond the familiar £3,000 annual gifting exemption, regular gifts made out of genuinely surplus income – pension income included – can fall outside your estate immediately, with no seven-year wait, provided they’re properly structured and documented. It’s one of the most useful and least-known exemptions available, and we can help you set it up correctly.

Planning for Children and Grandchildren

Good legacy planning isn’t only about tax – it’s about making sure the right people benefit, at the right time, in the right way. Whether you’re local to Dorset or based elsewhere in the UK, we take the time to understand what actually matters to you and your family before we recommend anything.

Local, Independent Advice in Poole, Bournemouth and Across Dorset

We’ve been advising families from our Poole office for over 30 years, and we work with clients throughout Dorset – Bournemouth, Christchurch, Wimborne, Ferndown, Broadstone, Wareham and beyond. Inheritance tax planning is personal, and it helps to sit down with someone who understands both the rules and the local picture, from Sandbanks property values to family businesses along the south coast. We’re independent and FCA-regulated, and every recommendation we make is built around your family, not a product list..

Ready to Talk?

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If you’d like to talk through your inheritance tax plans with an independent financial advisor in Poole, and who has been doing this for a long time, we’d love to hear from you. We offer a free initial consultation with no obligation – just a straightforward conversation about where you are and where you’d like to be. Call us on 01202 622223 or complete a contact form to arrange a no-obligation initial conversation.

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Apex CB Financial Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

FAQs

Question	Answer
What are the current inheritance tax thresholds and allowances?	Every individual currently has a nil-rate band of £325,000, plus a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 if a qualifying home passes to direct descendants – potentially £500,000 per person, or £1 million for a married couple. These allowances are frozen until April 2031.
When is the right time to start inheritance tax planning?	As early as possible – many effective strategies, like lifetime gifting, rely on time passing (the seven-year rule) to take effect, so starting sooner gives you more options, not just more time.
I’ve just sold my business – has my inheritance tax position changed?	Very likely, yes. Trading business assets often qualify for Business Relief, which can shelter their value from inheritance tax almost entirely. Once sold, the proceeds are treated as cash or investments and are generally fully exposed to the 40% rate, so this is an important time to review your planning.
What is Business Relief and how does Replacement Relief work?	Business Relief (BR) can shelter qualifying business assets from inheritance tax after just two years of ownership, subject to the caps on 100% relief that apply from April 2026. If you sell a BR-qualifying business, Replacement Relief allows you to reinvest the proceeds into other BR-qualifying investments and carry over the time already served – so you may not need to wait a further two years to qualify again, provided the reinvestment happens within the permitted timeframe. BR-qualifying investments are generally higher-risk and can be harder to sell than mainstream investments, so this needs careful consideration alongside your wider goals.
Can I give my money away to avoid inheritance tax?	Gifts can fall outside your estate after seven years, but the rules are detailed, and getting them wrong can cost more than expected.
Can I make regular gifts out of my income?	Yes – regular gifts made out of genuinely surplus income can be immediately exempt from inheritance tax, with no seven-year wait, provided they form a settled pattern and don’t reduce your normal standard of living. Good record-keeping is essential, and we can help you structure this correctly.
If I give my children money, will they have to pay tax on it?	There’s no tax for your children simply on receiving a gift. However, if the money is then invested and generates income, they may need to pay income tax on that income above their own allowances. If the gift comes from a parent to a minor child and generates more than £100 of income a year, that income is normally taxed as the parent’s, not the child’s. The main tax to consider is inheritance tax on your side – if you were to die within seven years of the gift, it could still count towards your estate.
Will my pension be subject to inheritance tax?	From April 2027, most unused pension funds will form part of the taxable estate – a significant change worth reviewing now, especially if you’ve been using a pension as part of your legacy plan.
Do you only work with clients in Poole and Dorset?	No – we’re based in Poole and many of our clients are in Bournemouth, Christchurch, Wimborne and across Dorset, but we advise families throughout the UK, by phone, video call or in person.
Do I need a solicitor as well as a financial adviser?	Often, yes – we work alongside solicitors for wills and trust drafting, and focus on the financial planning strategy around them.