IHT gifting, simplified.
Inheritance Tax is charged at 40% on estates above the threshold. Lifetime gifting can meaningfully reduce that bill — but only if the records exist to prove it.
£5.5 trillion will pass between UK generations in the next 30 years.
Legacy Ledger gives professional firms — financial planners, wealth managers, solicitors, accountants and executor firms — and their clients a single platform to log gifts, classify them against HMRC rules, track every 7-year clock, generate the reports that families and executors need — including the IHT403 — and engage the next generation through their own portal.
A record high. Forecast to reach £14bn annually by 2030 as frozen thresholds and rising asset prices pull more families in every year.
The most common — and most avoidable — source of IHT exposure. (Barclays Smarter Succession)
Unused pension pots become IHT liable for the first time under Finance Act 2024, Schedule 9. Millions of estate plans need reviewing.
Built for professional firms and their clients.
Whether you manage estates or own one, Legacy Ledger gives you the tools, the records, and the clarity to make gifting work properly.
For professional firms.
Consumer Duty requires advisers to identify and prevent foreseeable harm. Undocumented gifting is one of the most common — and most avoidable — sources of IHT exposure for clients. Legacy Ledger gives you the audit trail, the compliance record, and the tool to have better conversations — and keep the next generation close, not just the current client.
For wealth owners.
Used correctly, the gifting rules can meaningfully reduce your IHT bill. But without records, your estate faces a separate problem: HMRC requires 7 years of gift history on the IHT403, and reconstructing it professionally can cost tens of thousands of pounds at the worst possible time. Legacy Ledger keeps the records continuously — so your family doesn't have to.
Built for the next generation.
Beneficiaries get their own portal — so the relationship with the next generation is built before the wealth transfers, not after, the point at which firms most often lose it.
Four compliance steps. Fully automated.
Log
Manually, via spreadsheet, or open banking auto-detection.
Classify
Assessed against every HMRC exemption and rule automatically.
Track
Every gift against its exemption and the 7-year clock.
Report
IHT403-ready gift history, generated on demand.
Surplus income exemption — automated.
Section 21 IHTA 1984 allows unlimited gifts from regular surplus income with no 7-year clock. It's one of the most powerful IHT exemptions available — and the hardest to evidence. Legacy Ledger builds the proof automatically: income pattern analysis via open banking, uploaded tax return verification, and a compliant annual statement ready for HMRC.
Engagement — built in.
Beyond compliance, Legacy Ledger keeps clients close. Automated nudges flag the moments that matter — a gift nearing seven years, an allowance about to lapse, a review falling due — giving advisers a timely, genuine reason to reach out. Turning a periodic review into an ongoing relationship.
See it in action
Currently in private beta with design partners. Full platform launch targeted for Q1 2027.
Wealth owner portal
Wealth owner portal
Beneficiary portal
The team
James Barham
30 years of financial services leadership across asset management and institutional markets, most recently as Executive Chairman at Schroders Solutions.
Britt Hoffmann-Jones
20 years across asset management, pensions, and wealth, most recently at Schroders. Saw the gifting compliance gap and decided to build the solution.
Keep me posted.
Whether you're a wealth owner, adviser or professional firm, follow our progress and be first to hear when we open to new partners.
Join our design partner programme or invest.
Professional firms.
We are working with a small group of financial advisers, wealth managers and other professional firms to shape the product before launch. Places are limited.
Investors.
We are raising an angel round (SEIS/EIS-eligible) to bring Legacy Ledger to market. If you'd like to learn more, please get in touch.