Legacy

Legacies and Memorial Funds
After you have taken care of your loved ones on your will, you may wish to leave a gift to support your community. Legacies are a very special way of ensuring the Foundation will be able to support local people in need for many years to come.

Why leaving a legacy is so beneficial
Permanence. Your gift will remain in the Foundation's Community Capital Fund permanently generating income to benefit local people

Remembrance. A "Named Gift" will ensure your name (or a friend or relatives) will live on. Those who receive a grant from the fund will know the source of their award

Flexibility. You can decide whether to leave a legacy to support a particular cause or area, or leave it to the Foundation to allocate your gift according to the most current pressing needs

Some of the possible ways of leaving a legacy are:
Pecuniary Legacy – a fixed sum of money, property or other specific gift, which is made explicit at the time of writing a will.

Residuary Legacy – the residue of the estate or a percentage of the residue which is everything remaining after all debts, expenses and legacies have been paid. Residuary legacies are more beneficial to charities than pecuniary legacies

Reversionary Legacy – the Foundation will not inherit until after the death of another person, who has the benefit of the estate during their lifetime. This ensures that the needs of the testator’s family are protected first and foremost.

Specific Legacy – a gift of goods which is made explicit at the time of writing a will, for example property or shares

Inheritance Tax: How to make the most of your legacy
When a legacy is left to the Foundation, the gift is totally tax free – regardless of the amount. Moreover, the value of the gift left is deducted from the total gross value of the estate. This may reduce the amount on which tax is payable.

Double tax benefit
As a charity legacies left to the Foundation are exempt from inheritance tax. If a specific amount of money is left to the Foundation in a will (or made in accordance with the testator’s wishes but not specified), the full amount is received by the Foundation rather than the amount minus inheritance tax.

A testator may also leave a legacy to a friend or relative. The testator can specify that all or part of the gift to the beneficiary be given to the Foundation. When the beneficiary acts upon this the Foundation benefits from tax exemption in two ways -

• The Foundation can claim inheritance tax in the same way as if the gift were left directly to the Foundation in the will;
  
• The beneficiary can make the gift using Gift Aid, increasing the gift further subject to his or her limit of taxable income. If a gift is left via a beneficiary who is a higher rate tax payer therefore, the Berkshire Community Foundation can re-claim 40% inheritance tax and, if the payment is made under Gift Aid, can recover a further 18%.

For more information please contact us