Anne Robinson reveals she’s given away £50m fortune to her family to ‘save it from the taxman’
ANNE Robinson is swerving a hefty inheritance tax on her £50million fortune by giving her wealth away before she dies.
The Weakest Link anchor, 79, revealed her savvy move to “save” her hard-earned money from being claimed by “the taxman.”
Anne, who had a stint hosting Channel 4’s Countdown from 2021 to 2022, has accumulated an incredible fortune from her various broadcasting roles.
She has told how she has “spread” her fortunes between daughter Emma, 43, and her grandsons to stop HMRC having a hold on it.
She told Saga Magazine: “I’ve given it all away.
“I don’t want the taxman to have it. I’ve spread it about quite a lot, to the children.
“They may as well enjoy it now.”
Anne added: “I can’t think there’s anything I really want except my good health and the family happiness.”
Previously, the TV stalwart has addressed her income gained after years on prime time TV.
The former Question Time panelist has also presented Points Of View and Watchdog.
She spent a decade on The Weakest Link and this was even parodied in a Doctor Who episode.
Speaking to Event magazine in 2015 about her earnings from TV she said: “You’ll discuss your sex life, your mother’s dementia, your operations and whatever else at a dinner party, but people won’t talk about money.
“I just buy what I want. Genuinely.
“I buy at Dover Street, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Marni… a lot of them are very expensive but I use them and get enormous pleasure out of them.”
“[I spent around] 50, 60 grand a year [on clothes].”
Tax-ing times
Inheritance Tax is a tax on the estate – the property, money and possessions – of a person who has died and there will be no tax to pay should the estate be valued below the £325,000 threshold.
The Inheritance Tax threshold is 40 per cent – but is only charged on the part of the estate over the threshold.
People, like Anne has, are permitted to give gifts while they are alive.
Yet these will be taxed if more than £325,000 is handed out in the seven years before the person’s death.
There’s usually no Inheritance Tax to pay on gifts people make out of your normal income, such as Christmas or birthday presents.
Loved up
When does the tax year start and end?
Tax years run differently to the standard January to December year
Instead it runs mid-year from April to April.
Many other countries around the world have tax years that run with the calendar year.
In Ireland, the US, France and Germany for example, it starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.
But in the UK for historical reasons, our tax year starts and finishes mid-way through.
The 2023-2024 tax year starts on April 6, 2023 and end on April 5, 2024.
The 2024-2025 tax year runs from April 6, 2024 to April 5, 2025.
Recently, Anne hit the headlines for a completely different reason.
We exclusively reported how she is dating Queen Camilla’s former husband, Andrew Parker Bowles after being set up by a pal.
Anne and the retired Army brigadier, 83, have been secretly dating for a year.
A friend of the pair, both twice-wed, said: “They have judiciously avoided being photographed together as they both wanted to keep this quiet for as long as possible.”
Meanwhile, Andrew’s ex-wife Queen Camilla is said to support his relationship with acid-tongued Anne.