• A Personal Message from Catriona
• Featured Article :
  Inheritance Tax – Try This Question!
• What's Around the Corner?
  FA2 Mock Questions, IF Mock Papers
• Exam Update
• Quote of the Month

We have been working like madmen (and women!) over the past month to get all our learning resources updated for the 2009/10 tax year (examinable from 1 September). That’s why this month’s newsletter is a little shorter than usual. We’ve also been playing “spot the error” in the CII study texts! In fact, we’re so focused on the updates that we’ve included one of our updated inheritance tax questions as this month’s featured article.

The good news is that all the updates to our learning resources are nearly complete. We’ve been held up a little by the late delivery of some of the updated CII study texts (grrr) but we’re nearly complete. We’ll send out an email as soon as they are ready, and we’ll also let you know how to get your updated learning resources which some of you will be entitled to.

We’re still tweeting away on twitter. Find out what we’re up to and how we can help you pass first time by following us at http://www.twitter.com/catrionabrand

Catriona.

If you have any questions or comments, or any suggestions as to what can be included in this newsletter to help you maximise your potential and pass first time, please contact me directly at Catriona@BrandFT.co.uk  I would love to hear from you.

Inheritance Tax – Try This Question!

This article is relevant to anybody who wants to further their career in the financial services industry, whether you are at Certificate Level or Diploma Level.

This month we’ve been so busy updating our financial planning learning resources for the 2009/10 tax year that we decided to provide an inheritance tax question for you to try. This is aimed at Certificate Level, but is also good practise for those of you at Diploma level.

Here we go....

Question
Daisy died in November 2008. She left £50,000 to each of her 3 children, and the remainder she left to her husband, Wilfred. Wilfred dies in June 2009. He leaves his entire estate to his 3 children. It is worth £890,000.

How much inheritance tax is payable when Wilfred dies?

Answer

The nil rate band for 2008/09 is £312,000.

Daisy has used £150,000 (£50,000 x 3) of this and therefore no inheritance tax is payable.
£150,000 / £312,000 = 48.08%
48.08% of Daisy’s nil rate band has been used.

The nil rate band for 2009/10 when Wilfred dies is £325,000.

Wilfred’s nil rate band is increased by the proportion unused when Daisy died.

This will be 51.92% (100% - 48.08%) of the 2009/10 nil rate band of £325,000. This increases the nil rate band to £325,000 + (£325,000 x 51.92%) = 493,740

The inheritance tax payable on Wilfred’s estate is therefore;

Tax payable £396,260 x 40% = £158,504

This calculation has been taken from our 2009/10 CF1 calculation workbook. We have calculation workbooks for CF1, CF2, CF6, J01, J04, J05 and J06. Find out what’s included and how you can learn the calculations needed for your exams, step-by-step, by visiting http://www.brandft.co.uk and navigating to your chosen exam.

“Maximise Your Potential” is a fre-e monthly newsletter from Brand Financial Training.  It is for individuals studying for the CII's Certificate and Diploma level exams, in financial services and general insurance, who want to be kept up-to-date and discover how to get motivated and pass first time.

Sign up now for your FREE copy at www.BrandFT.co.uk

Do You Have An Article You Would Like Us To Publish In Our Newsletter?

We’re always interested in reading and publishing any articles that may be of use to our readers. They can relate to the financial services industry, the general insurance industry or to studying and exams in general. If you would like us to consider one of your articles for publication, please email it to catriona@brandft.co.uk

FA2 Mock Exam Questions

After much demand, we’re pleased to let you know that these will be available in the next few weeks. As usual, we’ll be including a free taster set so you can try some out before you buy! If you have requested any FA1 resources from us in the past, we’ll email you when the FA2 mock papers are ready. Or you can also keep checking at http://www.brandft.co.uk/cf/fa2.asp

IF Exams – IF2, IF3, IF5 Mock Exam Papers

For those of you studying for the CII Certificate in Insurance (IF) exams, you will be pleased to know that we are now working on mock papers for IF2 with IF3, IF4 and IF5 in the pipeline. We are aiming to have IF2 ready by early August, with IF3, IF4 and IF5 available by the end of September. Watch your inbox for more details.