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Why Record Renewable Energy Production is Good News for Tax Planning

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Windfarms across the UK set a new clean energy record over the May Bank Holiday this year, with onshore and offshore wind turbines contributing almost half of the national grid. We investigate how Deepbridge Capital has been using landmark moments like this to make renewable energy assets more attractive to potential investors.

Business News Wales spoke to Andrew Aldridge, a Partner and Head of Marketing at Deepbridge Capital based in Chester, to learn more about the Deepbridge Estate Planning Service, and how the organisation are using renewable energy assets to offer financial advisers a business relief solution that have an asset-backed green inheritance tax solution:

Andrew says:

“We invest in renewable energy for a couple of main reasons. One of which is the relatively predictable revenues that you can generate from renewable energy, most assets to-date are Government subsidised [which] are obviously contracted over a length of time. The other person you are effectively selling your product to are the large electricity suppliers (i.e. ‘bluechip’ clients, Grade A counterparties).”

So how does this moment in renewable energy help financial advisors help their clients mitigate inheritance tax? He continues:

“The primary benefits [of the Deepbridge Estate Planning Service] are the inheritance tax mitigation. So in the UK, inheritance tax is currently at 40% and without any planning there are various different allowances that everyone has through the [inheritance tax] bands. But anybody with assets worth, generally for a husband and wife, more than £1 million gets taxed at 40%, which is quite weighty and most people would prefer not to pay that.”

“There are various different things that clients and advisors can do, such as gifting, giving away money, to writing assets in trusts, to taking out life insurance policies. But one of the most critical things is business relief, and interestingly enough we have just conducted a survey of our financial advisor community [on inheritance tax planning], with the second most popular being business relief. Business relief propositions are becoming more prevalent, and of course alongside that, an increasing appetite to invest in green, sustainable and environmentally friendly propositions.”

With the UK Government promising to ‘build back greener,’ and reemphasising its commitment to renewable energy production as the country’s long-term energy solution, renewable energy continues to offer investors a great opportunity for long-term predictable growth, whilst also being at the heart of ethical, environmental and impact investing principles.

Business News Wales