18 February 2022, Alberto Perez Cedillo

As we begin 2022, it is natural for thoughts to turn to what the year ahead might hold. When it comes to probate, the key issue to highlight is changes coming in to Inheritance Tax (IHT) Regulations for excepted estates. For deaths occurring from 1 January 2022, more non-tax paying estates will be exempt from the need to submit detailed returns in order to obtain probate.

Acting on suggestions originally put forward by the Office for Tax Simplification, HMRC has amended the Inheritance Tax (Delivery of Accounts) (Excepted Estates) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

The newamendments aim to reduce the reporting that excepted estates need to do, as well as expand the definition of an excepted estate. They include:

• Changing the threshold value of excepted estates from £1million to £3million (gross)
• Raising the limit of specified lifetime transfers and trust property from £150k to £250k
• Including cases where some of the available IHT threshold was used when the first of a married couple or civil partnership died and a claim is made for the unused percentage to be made available against the current estate
• Removing excepted status from foreign persons’ estates where the deceased either owned indirect interests in UK residential property or made lifetime gifts of UK assets above GBP3,000 in the seven years before death (unless the estate is not liable for IHT)
• Extending the time period for HMRC to ask personal representatives for additional information to prove the estate is excepted to 60 days
• Including in the grant application the gross and net values for IHT and the net qualifying value of the estate for IHT.