The enhanced nil rate band and lifetime transfers

The possibility of one spouse, or civil partner, enjoying an enhanced nil rate band is clearly going to have an effect on the tax planning advice given to clients. To some extent, matters are much simplified. Elaborate arrangements charging interests in the family home with nil rate band legacies are unlikely to be required. There may be less pressure to sever joint tenancies. The enhanced nil rate band only applies, however, to transfers on death. The time has, perhaps, come to start thinking about how it may fit in with the making of lifetime transfers, whether potentially exempt or immediately chargeable. Consider the typical and straightforward case of a husband and wife who intend to leave as much as possible to their children and as little as possible to HMRC.