Experian Shares - UK or Jersey IHT...???

paddytt

Dear All

I recently inherited some Experian plc shares from my late Uncle. The Registrar is Equiniti and based on Jersey (not their UK office in West Sussex). Therefore, they tellm e that I need a Jersey Grant of Probate in order to release the shares. Very inconvienent and more expense, but that's life.

My question is this: I have already declared these shares as part of the estate and paid UK inheritance tax on them. Was this correct? Or would they be exempt as the Registrar is based on Jersey? Can I reclaim?

thanks in advance

TT

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I think that when the estate was declared for UK IHT you should have included the shares in a section refering to foreign assets. You pay IHT to UK gov.

If you need Jersey Probate to release the money, I cant see this will involve any further IHT since there is no IHT in Jersey. There are costs of course in obtaining the Jersey probate and I think their probate office charges a %age of the Jersey Estate. You may find it convenient to employ a Jersey lawyer. If there is a Jersey will that has to be registered. I am not sure how the Jersey Probate Office deal with the situation where there is only a will done in UK style. There are special ways in which a Jersey will has to be written. So maybe the Jersey probate treat the deceased as intestate for the purposes of Jersey property. A Jersey lawyer would advise. Or try googling -- I have given the top google link below.

Coming back to the UK probate and UK IHT, I think legal expenses incurred in securing foreign asssets are an allowable expense which can be set off against the estate before calculating the UK IHT due. You dont know these expenses yet, but you will be able to submit a claim for an adjustment once they are known.

According to http://www.bedellcristin.com/main/cms/includes/asp/CMFileGetFile.asp?fi=567
there is a small estate exemption for Jersey estates less than £10,000.