What needs to be valued for probate and Inheritance Tax reporting?
25th October 2023
The entire estate of someone who has recently died must be valued to complete the probate application and to establish if Inheritance Tax (IHT) is owed. The estate includes property, possessions, and money – basically everything the deceased individual owned, including debts. Therefore an inventory of the estate will need to be carried out.
What assets are subject to probate?
As a guide the most common assets for probate are:
- Property
- Bank accounts
- Personal possessions
- Business assets
- Stocks and shares
- Cars
- Jewellery
Any debts of the deceased also need to be established and will be deducted from the value of the estate.
Any lifetime gifts (Potentially Exempt Transfers, or PETs) made by the deceased in the seven years before death, must also be identified and recorded. Any gifts made more than seven years before the date of death will be exempt. The value of gifts made more than three years, but less than seven years before death, will be subject to IHT at a reduced rate.
Assets must be valued at their open market value. This is the price the asset might reasonably fetch if it was sold on the open market at the time of death.
Our probate service
Haysmacintyre LLP is licensed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales to carry out the reserved legal activity of non-contentious probate in England and Wales, and can therefore deal with both the probate application and IHT reporting.
For further advice and support with your probate application and asset valuation, please contact Mark Pattenden, Partner.
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