Can I take my late wife's unused IHT allowance?

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P.H.replies: The inheritance tax nil rate band for tax year 1996-97 was £200,000. The unused proportion (13/200ths) can be transferred to you at the rate applying on your own death.

The nil rate band is now fixed at £325,000 until April 2018, so if you died before then the allowance would be increased by £21,125 – 13/200ths x £325,000.

To claim this additional allowance, the executor of your will would need copies of your wife’s will (and any deed of variation), the IHT return for her estate, details of any jointly owned assets that passed to you or others on her death and any gifts she made in the seven years before her death.

  More... Could equity release be a good option for you? find out using our fere guide Can you find a better annuities deal? Find an independent financial adviser When would you need a specialist will solicitor?

Pension confusion

K.P.writes: I was receiving pension credit but the payment stopped after I inherited some money.  I cannot make sense of the sums.

The Government says my personal savings should be producing £180 a week but they only give me £58.60. Can you explain the difference?

P.G.replies: Under the rules for pension credit, your first £10,000 of savings – whether inherited or not – is ignored.

After this, the assumption is that you receive a weekly income of £1 for every £500 of savings above £10,000. This assumed income is then deducted from any benefits paid to you and, if it is large enough, no benefits are paid at all.

To put this into context, an income of £52 a year from £500 equates to a return of 10.4 per cent after any tax – far more than you can actually achieve in the current climate. The reality is that you have to dip into your capital to produce this sort of income, running down your savings.

Interest on our golf club account is well below par

I.N.writes: I am a trustee of my golf club’s fundraising committee. We have more than £20,000 banked towards centenary celebrations but this is only earning 0.35 per cent. What are the best options for club and society savings?

A.B.replies: The rates on business and charity accounts, including clubs and associations, are often worse than those for personal accounts.

But Melton Mowbray Building Society has a Business Easy Savings account offering 1.20 per cent. Cambridge & Counties Bank pays 1.75 per cent for its 30 Day Notice Account, 1.95 per cent for its 95 Day Notice Account and 2.20 per cent for its 1 Year Fixed Rate Business Bond.