This page sets out how Total Books Accountants LTD supports high net worth individuals with CGT, let property tax, IHT and wider tax planning, within the context of Labour’s current tax strategy and the UK economy. It links naturally into our specialist service pages and ends with a simple route to book a discovery call.
Key takeaways for high net worth individuals
- Expect higher effective tax on wealth, not wages. Labour’s manifesto promised not to raise basic, higher or additional Income Tax rates, National Insurance or VAT for “working people”, so the focus has shifted towards CGT, IHT, property and enforcement instead
- CGT now bites harder and sooner. The annual CGT allowance is just £3,000 and main CGT rates on many assets have risen to 18% and 24%, with property at 18%/24% and tougher rules for carried interest.
- IHT thresholds are frozen while asset values rise. The core £325,000 nil-rate band and £175,000 residence nil-rate band are frozen until at least 2027–28, pulling more estates into IHT, with further reforms under active discussion.
- Property and landlords are under heightened scrutiny. HMRC is collecting record sums from landlords, powered by the Let Property Campaign, CGT 60-day reporting and data-matching tools.
- HMRC’s wealthy unit is expanding. High earners and those with £2m+ in assets are being targeted with more investigations, backed by extra funding and a target to raise billions through compliance.
- Ongoing planning now matters more than any single ‘tax trick’. The combination of CGT, IHT, property and income tax must be modelled together over several years, with regular reviews around each Budget.
You can explore relevant services (Tax Planning & Advisory, Personal Tax & Self Assessment, Let Property Tax & Landlord Accounting, Foreign Income & International Tax, Wealth & Estate Planning), or book a free 15-minute discovery call to talk through your position.
Who is this “high net worth” accounting service for?
This service is for UK-connected individuals who have significant assets, complex income or multi-jurisdictional interests, such as:
- Business owners and directors with shareholdings, options and future exit plans
- Individuals with £1m+ in investments or property, or who fall into HMRC’s “wealthy and mid-sized” focus (typically £200k+ income or £2m+ assets)
- Landlords and property investors with multiple UK or overseas properties (personally or via companies/trusts)
- Professionals and executives with high earnings, bonus structures and carried interest
- UK-domiciled or UK-resident individuals with offshore assets, trusts or foreign income
The core problems we solve:
- Keeping your overall effective tax rate under control while staying firmly on the right side of HMRC
- Aligning CGT, property and IHT planning so they support each other rather than conflict
- Ensuring you can evidence your position under HMRC enquiry, using Xero, Dext and digital records in line with Making Tax Digital (MTD) and HMRC Online requirements
- Creating a clear, multi-year plan so Budget changes don’t derail your longer-term goals
Why is ongoing tax planning essential for high net worth individuals now?
Ongoing planning is essential because the UK tax regime is shifting towards taxing wealth, tightening reliefs and ramping up enforcement, rather than visibly raising mainstream rates of Income Tax or VAT.
How have recent Autumn Budgets changed the landscape?
Autumn Budget 2024 and subsequent fiscal events under the Labour government have:
- Raised CGT rates on many non-property gains (for individuals, from 10%/20% up to 18%/24%) and on trustees and personal representatives, while freezing the already-reduced £3,000 allowance.
- Targeted property with higher SDLT surcharges on additional properties and tightened rules around enveloped property structures.
- Frozen key IHT thresholds, and set the stage for a shift to a residence-based IHT system from April 2025 that restricts offshore trusts as a shelter.
- Ended the traditional non-dom regime, moving towards residence-based taxation and removing discounts that previously softened the impact for new arrivals.
For high net worth individuals, these changes translate to:
- Higher tax on disposals of shares, businesses and investment assets
- Fewer “safe harbours” offshore or in complex structures
- A rising chance that both your annual income and your estate will be taxed more heavily over time
How does Labour’s wider political and economic strategy affect you?
Labour’s manifesto promised no rise in headline Income Tax rates, NICs or VAT for “working people”, but that still leaves considerable scope to raise money.
- Reducing or freezing allowances (like the CGT exemption and IHT thresholds)
- Tightening reliefs (Business Property Relief, Agricultural Property Relief, property-related reliefs)
- Increasing compliance yields through HMRC’s wealthy unit and data-driven investigations
Add to this:
- A weaker fiscal position and pressure from markets for credible debt reduction
- Public expectations for higher spending on NHS, social care and infrastructure
…and you get a clear direction of travel: wealth and capital are more exposed to tax risk than salaries alone.
Ongoing planning with a specialist firm like Total Books Accountants LTD means you react before each Budget, not after.
How can we work with you from Cardiff, Bristol or Newport—or remotely across England & Wales?
How does Capital Gains Tax planning work for high net worth individuals?
Capital Gains Tax planning for high net worth individuals is about controlling when and how you realise gains, and structuring ownership so that every disposal uses the most favourable reliefs and allowances available.
What are the key CGT rules affecting high net worth individuals?
From 2024/25 onwards:
- The annual CGT exemption is just £3,000 per individual
- CGT rates on many non-property assets are broadly 18% and 24%, depending on your income band (with specific regimes for carried interest and some business reliefs)
- Residential property remains at 18% / 24%, with 60-day reporting and payment on UK residential property disposals if there is CGT to pay
- HMRC has doubled failure-to-notify penalties on CGT in recent years and is actively matching Land Registry and broker data to tax returns
This matters because even relatively modest portfolio changes or property sales can now trigger sizeable tax bills and reporting duties.
What does effective CGT planning look like in practice?
For high net worth individuals, we typically:
- Map your asset base – listed shares, private company interests, carried interest, funds, property, crypto, art and other chattels
- Segment assets by likely disposal horizon (short, medium, long term)
- Layer tax planning on top of investment and estate planning rather than treating them separately
Common tools and tactics (always within HMRC rules):
- Spousal and civil partner planning
- Splitting ownership to use two CGT allowances and potentially two basic rate bands
- Managing who realises which gain, and when
- Phasing disposals over multiple tax years
- Breaking large disposals into stages to make repeated use of allowances and lower bands
- Crystallising and banking losses
- Using loss-making disposals to offset gains in the same or future years
- Using wrappers and reliefs intelligently
- ISAs and pensions for future growth
- Business Asset Disposal Relief where conditions are genuinely met
- EIS/SEIS and similar schemes where they suit your risk profile
We carry out this work using Xero and portfolio data feeds, feeding into cash flow forecasts and personal balance sheet summaries so you can see the tax impact of different options before you commit.
How should high net worth landlords and property investors handle Let Property Tax?
For high net worth landlords, the challenge is no longer just “declaring the rent”; it is optimising structure, finance and timing so your property portfolio works for you after tax, while keeping you clear of HMRC’s property-focused campaigns.
What are the main tax pressures on landlords and property investors?
Key factors include:
- Section 24 finance cost restrictions on personally-held residential property, limiting mortgage interest relief
- Higher SDLT surcharge on additional residential properties and tougher approaches to enveloped structures
- CGT at 18% / 24% on gains from buy-to-let and second homes, with only £3,000 tax-free each year
- The requirement to report and pay CGT within 60 days of completion on residential property disposals where there is tax to pay
- An HMRC focus on landlords via the Let Property Tax Campaign, with record receipts and more data-matching across letting agents, deposit schemes and Land Registry
For high net worth individuals with significant portfolios, there are additional layers:
- Potential ATED (Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings) for high-value residential property in corporate wrappers
- Cross-border issues where properties or owners are non-UK resident or non-UK domiciled (increasingly important with the shift to residence-based IHT)
Should you hold property personally, in a company, or in a trust?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer; each structure has trade-offs across:
- Income tax vs Corporation Tax on rent
- CGT on future sales
- IHT exposure and succession planning
- Lender appetite and refinance terms
- Administrative burden and director responsibilities
For example:
- Personal ownership
- Pros: simplicity, lower costs, no company admin, potentially simpler exit
- Cons: interest restriction, income taxed at up to 45%, full IHT exposure
- Company/SPV structure
- Pros: rent taxed at Corporation Tax rates; possible group planning; clearer separation of risk
- Cons: SDLT on incorporation, potential double tax on extraction, ATED risk for high-value residential property
- Trust or family investment company
- Pros: allows more refined control over succession and income splitting
- Cons: specialist rules on CGT and IHT; higher administration and scrutiny
At Total Books, we model different scenarios across cash flow, CGT and IHT so you can see the impact on your net position and the family’s position, not just the headline rate this year.
Book a Free Consultation with an experienced financial consultant
It doesn’t matter if you are buying or selling your business. Meet us in Cardiff, Bristol or Newport, or work fully remote via our secure portal. We align to your timetable and coordinate with your solicitors and lenders. You get concise updates and actionable checklists, and assistance until the ownership transfer point.
How is Inheritance Tax planning changing for high net worth families?
Inheritance Tax planning is shifting from a “long-stop” consideration to a front-and-centre risk, as more estates are dragged into the net by frozen thresholds and rule changes.
What are the current IHT rules and why are more people caught?
Key points:
- The main nil-rate band is £325,000, frozen until at least 2027–28
- The residence nil-rate band is £175,000, also frozen, with tapering for estates above £2m
- For many married couples leaving the family home to direct descendants, the combined tax-free amount can reach £1m, but property price growth and frozen bands are steadily eroding this advantage
HMRC data shows a rising number of estates paying IHT and a sharp increase in receipts, with forecasts suggesting this will continue.
For high net worth individuals, this means IHT is no longer a marginal issue; it can easily become one of the largest single tax charges on the family’s wealth.
How is Labour policy affecting IHT risk?
Current and proposed changes include:
- Move to a residence-based IHT system from April 2025, limiting the ability of non-doms and those with offshore trusts to keep assets outside the IHT net
- Discussion around tightening reliefs such as Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief, particularly for land and business structures that have been used to mitigate IHT for large estates
- Reports that tightening up lifetime gifting rules and treatment of pensions on death are under review as ways to close the fiscal gap
This is consistent with Labour’s broader approach: raise more from wealth, while trying to honour a promise not to raise the main taxes on “working people” directly.
What does practical IHT and estate planning involve?
For high net worth clients, we focus on:
- Building a clear estate balance sheet – including property, businesses, pensions, investments, insurance and overseas assets
- Using allowances efficiently
- Nil-rate bands, residence nil-rate bands, transferable allowances between spouses
- Lifetime gifting strategies
- Regular gifts out of surplus income
- Potentially exempt transfers (PETs) and monitoring the 7-year clock
- Ensuring documentation is watertight for HMRC purposes
- Trusts and family companies
- Where appropriate, using trusts and family investment companies to separate control, income and capital, in cooperation with legal and financial advisers
- Balancing CGT and IHT
- Sometimes holding an asset until death (to secure a CGT uplift where rules allow) is better; sometimes earlier gifting is preferable even if it crystallises CGT
How do CGT, property tax and IHT connect in real-world planning?
In practice, you cannot look at CGT, let property tax and IHT separately. Every decision in one area has consequences in the others.
What does “joined-up” planning look like?
A typical high net worth planning cycle with Total Books might involve:
- Annual strategy meeting (online via Zoom/Teams)
- Review of personal and family balance sheet
- Updates on Autumn Budget and Spring Statement changes
- Identification of actions for the next 12–24 months
- Asset allocation and structure review
- Where are assets held – personal, company, trust, pension, offshore?
- What disposals or acquisitions are on the horizon?
- Scenario modelling
- Selling a property vs refinancing
- Keeping a business in the family vs third-party sale
- Gifting now vs later, with modelled CGT and IHT outcomes
- Implementation and digital records
- Using Xero, Dext and secure portals to maintain clean records
- Ensuring all HMRC filings (Self Assessment, CGT 60-day reporting, ATED, non-resident returns where relevant) are correct and on time
- Ongoing monitoring and mid-year check-ins
- Adjusting for market changes, family events (marriage, divorce, births) and new rules
- Coordinating with your wealth manager, solicitor and trustees
Why does this matter in the Labour / UK economy context?
Because:
- Rate changes and allowance freezes are likely to continue as the Treasury seeks to fill fiscal gaps without headline rate rises on income and VAT
- HMRC is being given more funding, better data and explicit targets to raise more from compliance, especially among the wealthy
Ongoing planning is not about being clever for its own sake; it is a risk-management exercise for your family’s net position.
How does Total Books actually work with high net worth individuals?
We combine 30+ years’ experience, a MAAT-led team, 400+ Google reviews, and fully digital workflows to give you a structured but personal service.
What does the process look like from first contact?
- Free 15-minute discovery call
- High-level discussion of your goals and current position
- Initial view on whether you fit our high net worth service model
- Agreement on next steps and scope
- Strategy meeting
- Deep-dive into your assets, income streams and family situation
- Discussion of current Budget changes and relevant HMRC focus areas
- Prioritised action list: CGT, property, IHT and compliance
- Planning and implementation
- Building a personal tax roadmap over 3–5 years
- Coordinating with your other advisers (financial planner, solicitor, private bank)
- Implementing structures using digital tools and secure workflows
- Ongoing support and annual cycle
- Preparation of personal tax returns, property reporting, company and trust returns where needed
- Annual and interim tax planning reviews
- Alerts and discussion ahead of key fiscal events such as the Autumn Budget or major HMRC announcements
Our clients are based in Cardiff, Bristol, Newport and across the UK, with meetings typically held via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, backed by secure document portals.
What results can you realistically expect?
While every situation is different and nothing is guaranteed, high net worth clients typically see:
- Fewer unpleasant surprises – because we plan for CGT, IHT and property tax years in advance
- Better after-tax outcomes – not just this year, but across a whole planning horizon
- Stronger HMRC defensibility – clean records, clear rationales, and a planned response if a letter or enquiry arrives
- Reduced personal stress – because financial decisions are anchored in numbers and scenarios, not guesswork
We express “results” not only in tax saved, but also in:
- Clarity around what you can spend, gift and invest
- Confidence for major decisions such as a business sale, relocation or large property transaction
- Improved communication within the family about wealth, inheritance and responsibility
FAQs for high net worth individuals
Do I need a “high net worth” accountant if I already have a personal tax adviser?
If your position involves multiple properties, a business, investments and potential cross-border issues, you will benefit from an accountant who can join those moving parts together, rather than filing each tax return in isolation. The question is not whether your current adviser is “good”, but whether they are proactively managing CGT, property tax and IHT in one joined-up plan.
How often should my CGT and IHT position be reviewed?
At least once a year, with additional reviews before or after major life events (business sale, relocation, large property transaction, marriage/divorce, birth of children or grandchildren) and after each Budget where there are relevant changes. For many high net worth clients, a twice-yearly review is the right rhythm.
I’m considering leaving the UK – will that solve my tax issues?
Relocating may change your exposure to UK tax, but with residence-based IHT, offshore rules and anti-avoidance provisions, simply moving abroad is not a magic answer. You need bespoke advice on residence, domicile, double tax treaties and exit timing before making a decision.
I’ve heard talk of a wealth tax – should I act now?
There is active discussion in policy circles about taxing wealth more heavily, including formal wealth taxes and further tightening of reliefs. No-one can promise what any future government will do, but it is prudent to ensure that:
- Your structures are robust under current law
- You are not relying on a single relief that could easily be removed
- Your record-keeping is strong enough to handle retrospective tests or anti-forestalling rules
How does Total Books work with my existing wealth manager and solicitor?
We typically:
- Take care of HMRC-facing tax work (planning, calculations, filings)
- Work with your IFA or private bank on asset allocation and product selection
- Work with your solicitor on wills, trusts, shareholder agreements and property documents
This keeps everyone in their lane while ensuring decisions are fully coordinated.
Can you help if I suspect there are historic issues with my property or offshore affairs?
Yes. We are experienced in Digital Disclosure and HMRC campaigns such as the Let Property Campaign. We will:
- Review your position confidentially
- Quantify potential exposure and penalties
- Advise on disclosure routes and supporting documentation
The current political and economic climate favours those who come forward early; HMRC’s data-matching powers and funding are only heading one way.
Next step – discuss your position in a discovery call
If you are a high net worth individual with significant assets in the UK (or connected to the UK) and you are concerned about CGT, property tax and IHT under the current Labour government and Autumn Budget environment, the sensible move is to get a clear, joined-up plan in place.
Total Books Accountants LTD can:
- Review your current and future tax exposure
- Build a multi-year tax roadmap across CGT, property and inheritance
- Provide ongoing support and monitoring, with digital tools and clear reporting
You can click through to our related service pages (Tax Planning & Advisory, Personal Tax & Self Assessment, Let Property Tax & Landlord Accounting, Foreign Income & International Tax, Wealth & Estate Planning) or simply book a free 15-minute discovery call to talk things through.
