IHT205 - Please can anyone help with a few sections I am unsure about please?

[Maxation]

Hi all

Thanks for having me on the forum

My mum sadly passed away in March and I am helping my dad save money by applying for probate. It's the first time I've done it. I've read through the IHT206 Notes and have got my head round most of it, but there's a few bit I remain unclear on and I wondered if anyone could lend a hand please?

1. "Assets passing to a spouse..." I thought I was clear on this, but then I noticed in the notes that is says (p.6.): “Where assets pass to the deceased's spouse or civil partner, both the deceased and their spouse or civil partner must have been domiciled (had their permanent home) in the UK throughout their lives.” They have both been in the UK since the 1960s and married in the UK in the 1970s, but both were born and bred in Italy. What are the implications of this?

2. My mum had a small savings account in her name only (around £2,000). Her Will states this (and other parts of the residual estate) are to pass to my dad. In fact, the bank have already closed the account and transferred the funds to my dad, and as such I thought this wold go into Section 9 as no probate is needed to access funds. That's what the helpline said too. But then p.19 of the notes says: "Section 11 - These are the assets which are included in the value of the estate for the grant of probate...even if you do not need to produce a copy of the grant to get access to these assets.”. So now I'm not so sure which section to put it in...?

3. 11.2. My mum did not have any valuable or anything. Obviously there will be normal household items like irons, clothes, etc. What do I need to declare here?

4. 11.11. I really can't think of anything, especially as my dad still lives in the house. But do I need to check EVERYTHING to be certain, or is it ok to put nil here?

5. Section 14 of the form. I'm a bit confused by what needs to go in here, so any pointer would be great.

6. If I complete the IHT form on line (rather than the paper IHT205), do i receive a copy of the completed form?

Sorry for the long thread! And thanks in advance to anyone who reads it or is able to offer assistance.

Ta

[maths]

Perhaps the first thing to note is that I assume your mother's estate is below £325,000 or below £1 million a nd it all passes to your father.

1. Broadly, if your mother was non-UK domiciled and father was UK domiciled then above a certain limit IHT would potentially be payable on assets left by mother to father. Whereas if both are UK domiciled (or non-domiciled) then gifts from mother to father are IHT exempt irrespective of the amount involved. In you mother/father's situation there's no problem; they're either both domiciled under UK domestic common law or now both deemed domiciled.

2. Box 11.1

3. Provide a reasonable estimate of ll her items.

4. Nil.

5. Box J should contain the aggregate of value of assets passing to husband plus gifts she made in her will to charities.

6. Print it off.

If mother's total estate falls below £325,000 then nothing to worry about. If it's in excess of this amount again no problem if it all passes to father. Only if her estate exceeds £325,000 AND she leaves gifts to others (ie not to either a charity or her husband) then IHT may payable and the figures provided need to be more precise and accurate (also in this case Form IHT205 may not be the form to complete).

[Maxation]

Hi maths

WOW - what a great response! Thanks so much for taking the time to help, I really do appreciate it.

Yes, the whole estate is below £325,000.

However, only the finances pass to my father. My mother's side of the house (50%, mortgage free) is to be left in Trust to children and grandchildren.

1. OK, so sounds like that's nothing to worry about. As I said, they both moved to the UK in the 1960s and have been here since. They met and married in the UK and have never lived outside the Uk since the 1960s.

2. Great, thanks.

3. Crikey, that would be really tough. None of her clothes or anything like that were of value. They'll all mostly go to the charity shop. Everyday household items my dad will continue to use. So do I have to go through everything and come up with a value? Or just put in a nominal amount of a few hundred? Or leave as nil?

4. Great

5. The above is all good but this is where I am stuck. I can see the logic in what you suggest and it seems to make sense. However, the guidance notes say (p.24):

"If the value in box H (page 5) is less than or equal to the excepted estate limit (£325,000 for tax years 2011 to 2015) write ‘0’ in box J and copy the value in box G (page 5) to box K."

In my mum's case, the value in box H is around £200,000. So that would mean putting nil in J. Head scratch emoji!

Am I missing something here?

6. Aha - good thinking!


Many thanks once again

[maths]

3. Say, a couple of hundred pounds.

5. If Box H is circa £200,000 then put "0" in Box J. Then put the figure in Box G in Box K.