John Humphreys: Timing the timeframes to plan for IHT certainty

It is now more than 300 years since the certainty of "death and taxes" was first observed in published print and the line has gone on to inspire books, television programmes, music, at least one US President and even a beer. Still, despite the current period of historical uncertainty, government receipts suggest many families are still not allowing enough time to plan for these two certainties, uniting together in the form of an inheritance tax (IHT) bill. The rules for lifetime transfers of capital mean the simplest way to mitigate IHT is to give away assets and survive seven years. Whi...