You can choose to give a set amount, or a percentage, whichever is more suitable for you. You can give to more than one charity and can be of any amount. If the value your estate is hovering around the current IHT threshold's, then by leaving a charitable gift, you could potentially eliminate the IHT liability altogether, by reducing the estate value once the gift has been taken.

GIFTS & LEGACIES

Many charities rely on public donations to support their work, gifts and legacies are an ideal way of boosting their finances and allowing them to grow and develop. Statistics show that many people intend to donate to charity, but never get round to it, only 7% of estates generate a charitable gift of some form or another.

WILLS STATISTICS

Over 60% of UK adults risk of dying without a will - that's 31 million people

Only about 14% of adults have some form of Power of Attorney in place

In the UK charitable legacies left in wills amount to some £2.24bn however this amounts to only 7% of the wills generated

35% of people say they are going to leave a charitable gift in their will but only 7% actually do

If you leave more than 10% of the value of your estate to charity then you would be eligible for an Inheritance Tax reduction of 4% from the current rate

From the charities chosen cancer charities were the most popular, then the RNLI, followed by RSPCA

For the larger charities, gifts and legacies form almost half of their annual income (info provided my Macmillan Cancer Charity)

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