Genovo has been designed to cover Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning advice and includes a number of solutions and planning techniques that an adviser will typically recommend to mitigate a client’s IHT liability. The below provides a summary of the some of the key functionality we've built into Genovo to assist with the writing of an IHT planning report.


Assets & liabilities and existing IHT position

 

It is possible to include a summary of the client’s assets and liabilities, as well as the potential Inheritance Tax liability that is currently due on their estate within the Suitability Report or Review Report 2.0 Report Types.



You can edit the three column headings within the table e.g. change "Mr" to "David" etc, and all of the columns and rows are "intelligent", so if you do not enter data in a particular row or column, it wont be included in the table included in your report.


This step is automatically included in the Introduction section of the Review Report 2.0. However, in the Suitability Report,  you need to select 'Yes' to the question 'Do you wish to include a summary of the client's assets & liabilities and IHT position in this report?' in the Client Circumstances step of the Introduction section to trigger it.


At the bottom of the step you can also include details of the potential IHT liability that is currently due on the client's estate.


Spell out the client’s objective(s)


A number of standard advice options have been included under the 'Inheritance Tax Planning' category within both the Client Objectives and Review of Client Objectives steps of the Introduction section.


You should select or add the advice option(s) that accurately reflect the client's objective(s) and add comprehensive Know Your Client (KYC) information to ensure you fulfil the regulator’s expectations of you in terms of documenting a client's objectives. Alternatively, you can add the client's objectives as free text.



Confirm any existing provision


Within the Introduction section of a Suitability Report, you can also use the Overview of Existing Provision step to briefly outline any existing arrangements the client already has in place to help meet their anticipated IHT liability.



Placing an investment into trust


Within the New Investment Recommendation section, it is possible, via the Trusts step,  to recommend that a new investment is placed into a range of trusts including:

  • Discounted Gift Trust
  • Gift Trust
  • Loan Trust
  • Retained Interest Trust
  • Probate Trust



On selecting a trust, you will be prompted to provide further details relating to that particular type of trust, as well as information regarding the key individuals involved in the trust. This information will then be summarised in your report.



The key benefits and features of the type of trust you've selected will be automatically included in your report, and you will be prompted to confirm any disadvantages associated with the trust you have recommended in the Key Disadvantages & Tax Implications step.


Other IHT efficient investments


Within the New Investment Recommendation section, you can also recommend AIM and Business Relief IHT Scheme investments.  


Placing a life insurance policy in trust


It is possible within the Review of Your Existing Protection Plans section to recommend that an existing plan is placed into trust. In the New Protection Recommendation section, you can also recommend a new Gift Inter Vivos or Level Term Assurance policy to cover the potential IHT liability that could become due on a gift, or a Whole of Life plan to mop-up the IHT bill due on death. You can also recommend that the plans are held under a variety of different protection-related trusts.


Supporting information


You should use the Supporting Information step within the Important Information section to signpost the reader to any other related documents / information that you have provided. For example, this could be a general guide to IHT planning, your original IHT discussion document, or your calculations showing the IHT position pre and post recommendations.


Other needs and planning considerations


You can use this step, within the Important Information section, to provide further information about any action (typically not involving a financial product) that you have recommended the client take to address them. An advice option dedicated to 'Inheritance Tax planning' is included as standard, and under this option are various advice reasons that you can use to make recommendations relating to the annual exemption or making gifts etc. As always you can always edit the standard options and / or add your own.



IHT technical notes


Finally, Genovo also includes some IHT technical notes that will be automatically included in the appendix of the report if the user selects:

  • Any of the IHT related objectives in either of the Client Objectives steps of the Introduction section.
  • Any of the advice reasons where an actual recommendation is being made under the 'Inheritance Tax planning' category in the Other Needs and Planning Considerations step.