Receiving a tax refund on a deceased estate - who gets it

[rogerzilla]

We have the same issue but the deceased account is still open so we can just pay it into there. The estate hasn't been valued for probate yet.

One complication is that my mother incurred punitive second home stamp duty when moving home (because of a rented house she owned) and the intention was, and still is, to sell the rented house within 3 years to reclaim the excess stamp duty. We don't know if the estate can reclaim this overpaid stamp duty, which is about £15,000.

A solicitor is going to do the probate as it is a horribly complicated estate, with a huge wodge of IHT likely. I am also doing deeds of variation to give away most of my share to the kids, as otherwise it will be taxed again if I die within 7 years. I'm not making the same mistakes!

 

[annedonnelly]

This may sound odd but I have to hand it to whoever in the Civil Service/Government came up with the idea of "Tell us Once". When you're dealing with a lot of stuff plus the grief of your loss, this government page is a great help. Now if they could only sort out the rest of "digital government" life could be (should have been) easier.

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

I found the same with the Registry Office, very good,clean cut service just when you don't need complications.. Must admit, I initially thought the'tell us once' service had a much wider scope but that was quickly explained...and accepted by me. I found almost without exception, banks, building societies, local services have all been very good.

There's a service being trialled here in Northumberland (and Sunderland I think) that does similar to Tell Us Once but for a wider scope - pension providers, mobile contracts, etc. I've just used it regarding my dad's estate. It's Settld and I believe it'll be rolled out to the rest of England & Wales soon. Still a bit buggy, but the support responded quickly to problems and it's definitely helped me avoid phone calls/letters to various organisations.

The registrar told me about it, so I imagine that once it's been rolled out they'll do that routinely in all parts of the country.

 

[bikingdad90]

@rogerzilla, with gift relief unfortunately it doesn’t absolve the tax cost if a trust is used to pass onto minors. If the trust exists for 10 years then the tax cost crystallisation point occurs. I know you’ll be getting advice etc but it is a common pit fall.

 

[rogerzilla]

@rogerzilla, with gift relief unfortunately it doesn’t absolve the tax cost if a trust is used to pass onto minors. If the trust exists for 10 years then the tax cost crystallisation point occurs. I know you’ll be getting advice etc but it is a common pit fall.

It's ok, that's not the question I meant.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I think we all underestimate how long it will take to things with estates, for getting 50% of a property share into trust it's taken a month just for the required parties to complete their AML (anti money laundering) checks. I can see why I've been told the grieving process sometimes doesn't really start for people until years after the death, if it takes so long to settle their affairs I feel I can't really let go properly until it's all settled.

 

[rogerzilla]

Well, the probate solicitor didn't know the answer to the second home SDLT question, and is going to find out. It's a newish tax and this probably hasn't come up much before. Generally, the estate should have the same tax rights as the deceased (except for a nil personal allowance) so we think it should be reclaimable unless there is specific legislation saying the right to reclaim dies with the original buyer.