I hadn’t thought assisted dying as a tax ploy but it’s being suggested as one by financial advisers in this article.

I expect that those approaching 75 will probably see themselves in the advanced stages of their middle age, but the article refers to them as elderly and maybe in ten years that’s how I feel.

I do not expect that tax bills should predominate in elderly people’s thinking and when people are in such pain that life is for them not worth living, they can and will terminate their lives one way or another. My Grandmother told me she intended to die and she did – the night after she told me, I will never know how and don’t want to either. She was 76 and had an Irish humour which would have included a thought on inheritance tax- if it had occurred to her, my father never told me if he paid it as executioner to her state but she only had a Methodist minister’s residual spouse’s pension – it was in the early 1980s.

My third article this morning is a trilogy for Ros Altmann as all three involve stories where she is the principle commentator. Here she is on the link between pensions and inheritance once more.

First the context

The new assisted dying bill could pressure elderly people into dying earlier in order to avoid passing on large tax bills to their families, experts have warned.

Under current rules, if someone dies before age 75, most defined-contribution (DC) pension benefits can be paid tax-free. But after this point, beneficiaries are liable for income tax on the payments – and they could also face a hefty inheritance tax charge.

This could potentially raise bills by huge numbers for many people and add an extra complication to an already difficult decision for those within months of their 75th birthday who are considering assisted dying.

Writes MSN’s Emily Braeger

Former pensions minister Ros Altmann said:

“I am concerned that we must not let this bill accelerate people wanting to end their lives to help the next generation.”

Experts warn they may wish to speed up the process to avoid their family having to pay large sums of tax on their inheritance.

Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said:

“If the bill were to be legalised, it could have some potentially significant implications for pensions and estate planning. For individuals who are terminally ill and approaching the age threshold of 75, this might factor into their decision-making, whether consciously or not.”

Of course most people will not leave an estate which generates inheritance tax. A combination of being part of a marriage where you are the second to die , your estate being mainly your house and your having done some inheritance taxing through gifting, means that most people escape IHT.

Those who are in a lot of trouble with life and want death may want to be kind to those who will receive their inheritance, it is hard to imagine that you would take the trouble to pay for assisted dying and not pay for a will and tax plan to the end.

There is an insinuation in this article that some will bring forward death to avoid taxes on their inheritors and that this is going to cause a rush to assisted death before the implementation of the IHT changes on pensions which is due to arrive on April 6th 2027.

I am sure my Grandma, with her wicked Irish humour, would be telling all the people she had no time for, that April 5th 2027 was a good day to die.