CGT on death

Camdoon

My parents have approx £80k of shares from which they earn a good dividend but which they are not totally dependant on. Most (let's just say all for simplicity) are owned by my mother. I am concerned that on her death the government will just say £80k profit and demand 20% (I am assuming that is the rate less 8 or 9k annual allowance) as the records my parents hold appear largely to be the equivalent of what used to be called the back of cigarette packet calculations. My father does not want to sort this out as he believes the government will just ignore a relatively small estate ( they have sold their house and have another £100k cash). What is likely to happen?

CLAPTON

there is no cgt on death;
only IHT if the estate is over 325,000 and is not inherited by the surviving spouse

Cook_County

There is income tax on death if the shares are caught under the offshore income gain regime; but not otherwise.

Until your parents are older and they appoint you as their attorneys this is frankly none of your business at the moment.

getmore4less

It would make more sense for you to get your facts right before trying to interfere.

You need to do a lot more research into estates and IHT.

as it happens your dad is right.

dzug1

And remember it's in any case a capital GAINS tax. Unless they got the shares for nothing the £80K they are worth is not a GAIN. The tax would be on the difference between buying and selling price, subject of course to allowances, etc

All academic of course as there is no CGT on death

Understanding the difference between income and capital might help as well

Camdoon

First of all my parents are both in their 90's and live with me. While both active, they rely on me and my wife for one meal a day, all their shopping, taking them out, taking them to the doctor, optician, heart hospital, dentist etc (peodiatrist at the third attempt next week to fit round my work schedules), ordering their drugs and managing their money through the internet (both have had spells in hospital via emergency ambulances in tha past 6 months) while also looking after our 2 teenagers, a 10 year old and a dog. My wife works 5 days as a teaching assistant as well as a part time Sunday job and I work full time as well but from home which allows me the flexibility to do much of the above. I also spent a considerable amount of money converting my garages allowing them to be as independant as they want (this has not increased the value of my home as I now have no garage) while secure. We also have paperwork in place for Powers of Attorney when their mental capabilities go. I also arranged for them to have a new will written as they moved from Scotland to the south and the lawyer stated that they needed to detail all their bank accounts and shares to make probate easier.
The alternative was to put them in a home.
I was concerned that CGT would be charged and that is what i was trying to avoid. They were reluctant to sell because they have enjoyed building up their shares and dividends.
A few years ago they had put in place a scheme to stop them paying IHT but the rise in value and the srop in value of their house meant that this had then to be donw away with - so keeping up-to-date with this is problematic.
I asked for advice and that was given by the second poster. We have details of all their shares as I wrote to all the registrars when I moved them in.
My mother will be happy to know this, my father did not know there was no CGT but was assuming nothing would be payable because IHT should not be triggered (as long as not too many questions are asked about their house).
I fail to understand how posters jump to the conclusion about the age of my parents; how asking for advice is interference as none of us were aware of no CGT at their deaths; that I should know more facts before posting (presumably post a question then answer it in the next post); that I did not understand the difference between Income Tax and CGT and thqat they missed the point that if there was CGT to be paid that there was no viable record of what they had paid so the government must assume a starting value.
While I can understand up to a point people jumping down the throats of some who have squandered their money and are on here asking for advice (stop spending and think before you do spend) I feel some of the answers above just appear to be trolling and inconsiderate.

getmore4less

Who are executors of this new will?

If their current assets are only around £180k was there ever IHT issues, they had £650k nill rate band to play with between them.

I still think you would do yourself a favour having a good read of the information for dealing with estates, books available from the library(check the year), and loads of info on line.

HMRC pages quite good on tax but need a bit of thinking about here are two starting points.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cgt/intro/gifts-inherit-divorce.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/

xylophone

IHT should not be triggered (as long as not too many questions are asked about their house).

A rather puzzling comment.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/ worth a browse.