Direct answer: Effective inheritance tax planning requires structured coordination between accountants, solicitors, and financial advisers. When advice is delivered in isolation, estates frequently suffer higher inheritance tax liabilities, implementation gaps, or conflicting outcomes.
With major reforms taking effect from April 2026 and April 2027, coordinated professional planning is now essential rather than optional.
Why Professional Coordination Matters Now
Two legislative changes fundamentally alter the inheritance tax landscape:
- April 2026 introduces caps on Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief
- April 2027 brings most pension death benefits within the inheritance tax calculation
These reforms affect business owners, farming families, and anyone with significant pension wealth. In many cases, existing wills, trusts, insurance arrangements, and pension nominations were designed for a world that no longer exists.
Inheritance tax now sits across business valuations, legal structuring, pension planning, and liquidity provision. No single professional covers all of these areas.
The Cost of Isolated Advice
Without coordination, families routinely pay more inheritance tax than necessary or face avoidable disruption at death. Coordination failure is not theoretical — it is one of the most common causes of unexpected inheritance tax liabilities.
Why Inheritance Tax Planning Fails Without Coordination
Inheritance tax planning intersects three separate disciplines, each critical but incomplete on its own.
- Accountants understand asset values, business structures, and tax exposure — but do not draft wills, trusts, or insurance arrangements
- Solicitors draft wills and trusts — but often rely on outdated valuations or incomplete information about pensions, insurance, or future tax exposure
- Financial advisers arrange insurance and pension strategies — but cannot provide legal advice or determine tax relief eligibility
When these professionals work in isolation, the result is often:
- Wills drafted using outdated valuations
- Insurance cover based on incomplete tax exposure
- Pension planning that ignores inheritance tax risk
- Reliefs assumed but not available in practice
- Executors discovering problems only after death
The Distinct Roles in Coordinated Planning
Accountants
- Valuing businesses, farms, and other assets
- Assessing eligibility for Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief
- Modelling inheritance tax exposure under current legislation
- Advising on lifetime gifting and business restructuring
- Monitoring changes that affect tax exposure
Their valuations drive almost every inheritance tax decision.
Solicitors
- Drafting and updating wills
- Creating trusts and powers of attorney
- Structuring asset flows on death
- Advising on probate and estate administration
- Ensuring legal enforceability and clarity
Without accurate financial input, legal documents can become ineffective.
Financial Advisers (Protection Specialists)
- Quantifying liquidity needs for inheritance tax
- Arranging Whole of Life and Relevant Life policies
- Writing policies into appropriate trust structures
- Integrating pension strategy with estate planning
- Reviewing cover as values and legislation change
Insurance does not reduce inheritance tax — it ensures it can be paid without destroying the estate.
Common Coordination Failures and How to Avoid Them
Outdated Wills Based on Incorrect Values
A will drafted when a business was worth £1.5 million may be wholly inappropriate once the value exceeds the £2.5 million relief cap. Without updated valuations being shared, inheritance tax exposure is missed.
Solution: Annual valuation summaries shared between accountant and solicitor.
Insurance Cover Set at the Wrong Level
Life insurance arranged years earlier often fails to reflect business growth, pension accumulation, or legislative change.
Solution: Adviser recalculates cover using current figures supplied by the accountant and aligned with the will structure confirmed by the solicitor.
Pension Inheritance Tax Ignored
Many plans still assume pensions sit outside the estate. From April 2027 this assumption is wrong.
Solution: Pension values and nominations reviewed alongside the wider estate plan, not in isolation.
Trust Structures Working Against Each Other
Multiple trusts created at different times with different trustees can cause administration problems and disputes.
Solution: Solicitor reviews all existing trust arrangements before new ones are created. Adviser aligns insurance trusts with legal structures.
Business Succession Without Liquidity Planning
A business may pass tax efficiently, but the rest of the estate still faces inheritance tax with no cash available.
Solution: Accountant quantifies total estate exposure. Adviser arranges insurance to fund the non-relievable element.
A Practical Framework for Coordinated Planning
Shared Fact-Finding
Each professional contributes their core data:
- Accountant provides asset values, relief eligibility, and tax modelling
- Solicitor summarises wills, trusts, and family intentions
- Adviser confirms pensions, insurance, and liquidity position
The objective is a complete, agreed picture of the estate.
Coordinated Recommendations
Each professional prepares recommendations within their discipline but shares them before final presentation to the client. This avoids conflicts and duplication.
Implementation with Clear Responsibility
Each action has a lead professional and defined dependencies. Progress is tracked and confirmed.
Regular Review
Plans are reviewed at least annually or when circumstances change, including:
- Asset value movements
- Legislative changes
- Family or health changes
- Business restructuring
Inheritance tax planning is not static.
Model Your Inheritance Tax Exposure
See how your estate would be affected by the 2026 and 2027 changes. Get instant indicative insurance cost estimates.
Use the IHT CalculatorWhy Coordination Is Critical After April 2026 and April 2027
The combination of capped business reliefs and pension inheritance tax creates new exposure for many estates that previously faced little or no inheritance tax.
Existing plans based on unlimited reliefs and pensions outside the estate are now incomplete.
The risk is not just higher tax, but poor outcomes at death when there is no time to correct mistakes.
The Role of the Protection Specialist
Insurance does not replace tax or legal advice. It supports it.
Whole of Life and Relevant Life policies, when correctly structured and written in trust, provide predictable liquidity at the exact moment inheritance tax is due. This allows executors to settle liabilities without forced asset sales or borrowing.
When advisers work collaboratively, insurance becomes a precise funding tool rather than a blunt instrument.
Final Observations
Inheritance tax planning fails most often because professionals do not talk to each other. The cost of that failure is paid by families.
With significant legislative change now in force or imminent, coordinated professional advice is no longer a refinement. It is essential.
Clients benefit most when accountants, solicitors, and financial advisers work as a team — each staying within their professional remit while sharing information openly and regularly.
Important Disclaimer
This page provides technical background only. It does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Professional advice should always be taken based on individual circumstances. Always consult a specialist tax accountant or solicitor for personalised advice — we focus solely on the protection element, working alongside your trusted advisers.