Tax Investigation on Deceased Person

[djaneyc]

A relative died last September (05). He was a landlord with several properties. It is clear his tax returns did not show the entirety of his income and did not declare all properties owned and rental income received. Since that point I have been 'caretaker' of rental income received and have been asked to keep accurate records of all cash received/outgoings by the executors. I am concerned that the Tax office will wish to investigate when they receive a final tax return following the granting of probate. The tax return this year will show a major increase in income received from the previous years. There is no getting away from this as the executors are a firm of solicitors bound by law to disclose all the facts. My question is - how far can the Inland Revenue go back and what are the likely penalties? Also, what happens if records cannot be located? How long could all this take before his affairs are finally settled and fines are paid etc.?

[King_Maker]

I am not sure why the solictors are involving you, when they are the Executors.

HMRC can go back up to 20 years where fraud is involved - although any assessments must be made within 3 years of 31 January 2007, as the date of death was in 2005-06.