Reviewing wills in light of changes to APR and BPR allowances

When the £1m Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) allowances were first announced the immediate reaction of Private Client practitioners was to advise clients to either utilise Trust structures in their wills to capture these reliefs or, alternatively, to pass the assets in question down a generation. This was necessary as the £1m allowance was not initially proposed to be transferrable between spouses. 

The good news is, however, that the November 2025 Budget announced both an increase in the value of the allowance to £2.5m, plus the ability for the allowance to be transferred between spouses. 

At first glance it appears there is no disadvantage in having simple mirror wills with all assets simply transferring to the surviving spouse on first death. However, while this is true to a certain extent, there are still several reasons why transferring assets qualifying for either APR or BPR in some other way might be considered. 

For example: 

• Assets qualifying for relief on the first death might be sold in the period between first and second death. The corollary being that the relief available on the first death is effectively lost.
• The rate of BPR and APR available on the second death might become less attractive in the future as future governments try to increase the tax take from IHT.
• The activities of the entity involved change in the period following the first death such that BPR is again lost. 

Irrespective of the BPR/APR allowance becoming transferrable, it remains the case that something other than simple mirror wills should be considered. 

The changes announced by the Chancellor last November are just another reason why business owners need to review their wills. Other more common reasons to review wills include: 

• When an individual gets married. The general rule being saying “I do” revokes any wills in place.
• If someone gets divorced.
• If someone moves house.
• A beneficiary or executor dies. 

Whilst a will can be prepared that achieves what is desired, it can quickly become out of date either due to legislative changes or indeed the passage of time. As John Lennon famously said “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.