Income Tax return for an estate

sammy1234567

Hi all, would appreciate some info on this.

The estate I am administering has a rental income, so presumably I must complete an Income Tax return for the estate.

Does anyone know if the estate gets a tax free allowance? (i seem to recall reading somewhere that it doesn't).

The income started coming in in December 2015. If this works like normal income tax, I would have a deadline of end January 2017 to fill in a return online for the year 2015/2016.

But, can I do an online tax return, or is it a paper one, in which case my deadline might be end October 2016?

In any case I guess I need to phone HMRC to discuss and get the forms. (Just putting it off at the moment, and hoped someone on this v helpful site has the answers ... :-) )

Thanks.

sammy1234567

I just phoned HMRC and they were v helpful. I thought I'd post the answer just in case anyone needs to know.
The answer is that no income tax return is needed at all, while the estate is being administered.
At the end of the administration, I have to write to HMRC and tell them the amount of rental income. Obviously I have to do that before distributing the estate, and pay off HMRC first.
The normal income tax rate is payable, and there's no personal allowance for the estate.

nom_de_plume

Is the property to be sold or is it specifically bequeathed to someone(s)?

If it has been left to someone, they would benefit from the rental income from date of death and any tax liability would be theirs.

sammy1234567

Thanks for reply, the property is not specifically bequeathed. Eventually it's to be sold - executor's power to postpone is being used at the moment.

Yorkshireman99

sammy1234567 wrote: »

Thanks for reply, the property is not specifically bequeathed. Eventually it's to be sold - executor's power to postpone is being used at the moment.

Remember that usually executors are expected to deal with and distribute an estate within twelve months of the death. There have to be very good reasons to postpone beyond this. If the delay is not justified beneficiaries can claim any losses from the executor(s).

sammy1234567

Thanks for replying.
I got the consent of the beneficiaries to postpone sale (also they are okay with delaying at the moment because the value of the estate has gone up because of increasing property prices - but there will be CGT to pay).

Yorkshireman99

sammy1234567 wrote: »

Thanks for replying.
I got the consent of the beneficiaries to postpone sale (also they are okay with delaying at the moment because the value of the estate has gone up because of increasing property prices - but there will be CGT to pay).

You need to check the details but AFAIK the estate has to pay the CGT,