We continue to get more and more ‘cross-border’ instructions. 

In one case we recently completed we were working jointly with Irish solicitors.  It looked as if the estate would be facing a hefty tax bill in both the UK and Ireland, which would only partly be mitigated by the effects of double-taxation relief. 

After further investigation from specialist tax advisers it was established that the largest shareholding, although held in the UK, could in fact be treated as an Irish asset.  This changed the calculations significantly with the result that no UK inheritance tax was payable. 

This case highlighted the importance of working together with other professionals when dealing with an estate where the assets are located in more than one country.