IHT - Can both parents gift £3k (£6k total) pa?

gininteacups

Good evening all, my question is about gifting cash and IHT.

I understand that there is a limit of £3k per year that a parent can gift to their children without incurring possible IHT, but is this £3k limit per parent (£6k) or £3k per married couple (£3k).

Many thanks.

cherry76

It is £3000 per parent.  

Keep_pedalling

If your estate is in IHT territory, you should not worry about going over your exempt gift allowance. Giving away more will reduce the amount of IHT due if you live longer than 7 years, but if you don’t live that long your beneficiaries will be no worse off, and as long as you are not too old and reasonably healthy you can always take out cheap term insurance to cover IHT on potentially exempt gifts.

You can also carry over any unused exemption not used in the previous year so if no gifts last year then you can make a joint exempt gift of £12k this. If any children are getting married in the near future your can also gift an additional £5k each, as gifts in contemplation of marriage are also exempt.