Postby Lambs » Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:48 pm
jaybee, if Inheritance Tax were in fact due, then it should already have been paid before you took up your interest in, or "ownership of," the property.
Ordinarily, Capital Gains Tax would arise on the uplift in value from the date of death (referred to as "Probate Value," to the date of sale. However, I note that you are not resident in the UK, so you should fall outside the charge to UK CGT. (This doesn't of course necessarily mean that you will escape CGT, or its equivalent, in the country in which you are currently held to be resident).
As to VAT, if a UK-based firm of solicitors, who is presumably VAT-registered, provides a supply of services to a person who is not resident in the EEC, then the service is deemed to be supplied without the EEC: (I think the place of supply is deemed to be that of the country in which the customer is resident): it is an export, and VAT is not chargeable. I suggest that you check this with the firm beforehand.