Inheritance/gift tax scenario

Feria50

Registered User
Messages
44
Hi everyone,

I plan to seek professional advice in the coming months with my uncle but would like some thoughts on the following scenario.

Uncle aged 71.
Generally good health.
Home owner no mortgage.
No sons/daughters or spouse
One sister aged 69
Three nephews aged 30-35 all married/engaged and all homeowners with mortgages and settled in decent jobs.

Uncle has cash/deposits of c. €300k and unencumbered home worth €100k.
He also has public and private pensions of €500+ a week.
Minimal outgoings other than usual esb etc. Does have very comprehensive health insurance.
Pension income considerably exceeds weekly outgoings.

His stated intention is that anything he has will be left to his 3 nephews in generally equal measure.

While careful with his money he would not be financially savvy. He has made a will a few years ago and made myself executor of it.

We very much encouraged him to make a will but had no involvement with the process, last week however he showed me a copy of it.

It seemed a very short document but perhaps that is how these things work. It simply stated that we nephews inherit all his assets in equal measure.

The above is all fine but in hindsight I wonder if my uncle should have sought tax advice in the first instance.

Any time I explain to him that there will be tax implications he gets annoyed and it is difficult getting the point across to him that there are reasonably low thresholds above which I and my brothers will have to pay a decent whack of tax, regardless of whether this is tomorrow or 20 years time. As far as he is concerned the tax man can go and take a jump but obviously that is not how these things work!

What is the most efficient way to approach and disbursement whether now or in the future?

To be clear, while I obviously want to mitigate the level of tax paid I am only looking for advice/suggestions that are above board. I guess if you were in my uncles shoes what steps would you take from here?
 
The best way to approach it would be to support your uncles wishes and to not try and force the issue. If he’s happy with the current situation than thats the way it should be.
Your uncle could live for another 30 years and find a new love or decide to change his will for whatever reason. I wouldn’t be worrying about a potential tax liability on a potential inheritance.
 
Tax advice: he can gift you all €3k a year tax free without any impact on lifetime CAT allowances.

Personal advice: leave the man alone and let him enjoy his life. Consider yourself lucky to be receiving a windfall some day. You will probably pay the same tax rate on your salary as you will on this inheritance.
 
Thanks for the replies though I think I have been taken up wrong. Maybe it's the way I wrote the post.

To be clear I am not trying to force anything whatsoever.

We are all in good jobs and not in any particular need of any inheritance, gifts and etc.

My uncle genuinely does not however have any understanding of tax. When I state in the opening post that he gets annoyed, his annoyance is driven not by us having a discussion.

What angers him is the concept that what he had earned will be taxed again. That's if there is anything to tax.

As also stated in the opening post he is very careful with his money and lives a modest life.

We would love if he spent a bit more on things like travel which he loves to do. It's his choice not to.

We are all close and there is no question of my uncle not being free to choose to do whatever he likes. Trust me he is fully in charge.

It is a case of explaining to him the ins and outs however.
 
The point is that no one has explained to him. Apart from using Google and I thought posing the question on this forum, I am not qualified to help.

I think I am being taken up wrong, maybe that's my fault and we'll leave it at that.

I'll let him seek out a tax advisor himself which he is happy to do.
 
I have an uncle like that. Frugal and unmarried with recent poor health. Sitting in a property worth near seven figures. I might be in his will, I might not be, and I would never raise it.

I have tried (gently) twice to get him to claim a pension I think he's entitled to, of maybe €300 a month, but he's done nothing. It's his life to live as he wants and I'm not going to try again.
 
Tbh, there's not a lot that can be done to reduce the tax bill without spreading the money around more people or gifting it before his death and I don't think either of those are things that it would be appropriate for you to suggest to him. If I was giving him advice, it would be to spend the money himself and enjoy it but that's his decision to make.
 
Back
Top