Increase in Probate fees in the Budget 2017

Browntoa

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4299384/Death-tax-stealth-rake-1-5billion.html


Currently, families pay the Government a set £215 fee, or £155 if they apply through a solicitor, to get permission for probate – the legal authority to distribute someone’s property, savings and investments after they die.
But fees are set to rocket in May with new levels ranging from £300 to £20,000 depending on the value of the estate – and will be in addition to inheritance tax. Experts described it as a ‘stealth tax’ which will target the bereaved

Yorkshireman99

Browntoa wrote: »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4299384/Death-tax-stealth-rake-1-5billion.html


Currently, families pay the Government a set £215 fee, or £155 if they apply through a solicitor, to get permission for probate – the legal authority to distribute someone’s property, savings and investments after they die.
But fees are set to rocket in May with new levels ranging from £300 to £20,000 depending on the value of the estate – and will be in addition to inheritance tax. Experts described it as a ‘stealth tax’ which will target the bereaved

Not all bad though. Estates worth less than £50,000 will no longer pay a fee and these are 58% of the estates.

Brighty

I wonder if the fee will still apply when whole estate passes to a spouse? So if you live in a £500k house and your partner dies, you need to stump up £4k

getmore4less

It's net estate that requires probate so joint assets not included.

around 250k 1/2 of all estate don't even go to probate.

less than 20k of the 1/2 million estate each year pay any IHT

if I could be bothered I could look up the stats for those that leave a spouse.

sharoncorn22

So, is the 'net' value of the estate, box d on form IHT421 or box 96 on the IHT400?

jicms

I can't find any clarity on the May date. When does this kick in, for deaths after May or will it apply to probate already in progress and not completed by May 2017? Does anyone know?

jicms

jicms wrote: »

I can't find any clarity on the May date. When does this kick in, for deaths after May or will it apply to probate already in progress and not completed by May 2017? Does anyone know?

I think I've answered my own question. It sounds as if the new charges are for new Grants of Probate applied for after 1 May, so won't apply if it's already been granted.

nobody999

Daily Mail headline was rather alarmist as I've come to expect from them
As other posters have said this won't actually affect that many estates and at the same time with the change in IHT limits on estates with a main property will mean that most people having to pay the new higher fees will actually benefit from less IHT to pay.

In addition, with larger estates comes more complexity and I don't see how a government agency can actually pay for the time to check the validity of a large complex estate for the flat £215 fee.

While nobody wants to pay tax, having to pay more is normally indicative of an underlying financial benefit, ie it's a nice problem to have

getmore4less

nobody999 wrote: »

Daily Mail headline was rather alarmist as I've come to expect from them
As other posters have said this won't actually affect that many estates and at the same time with the change in IHT limits on estates with a main property will mean that most people having to pay the new higher fees will actually benefit from less IHT to pay.

In addition, with larger estates comes more complexity and I don't see how a government agency can actually pay for the time to check the validity of a large complex estate for the flat £215 fee.

While nobody wants to pay tax, having to pay more is normally indicative of an underlying financial benefit, ie it's a nice problem to have

They(probate court) don't.

All they do is check the people that apply to administer the estate are who they say they are and are eligible.

HMRC are the ones that check the estate and that is only for IHT so they may investigate the more complex stuff if they suspect there is some tax to pay.

The reality is no one checks estates get administered and distributed "properly" it is currently a voluntary system and has been for a very long time.

I did comment on this a while back but did not take notes, if you go back far enough the church used to "check" estates.

SPBG

Why is the media so quiet about the huge increase in probate fees the government is bringing in in May? Is it a tax on the south of England where property prices are so expensive? Just because someone has managed to buy a house doesn't mean they have loads of spare money to pay this unfair and enormous tax. Will the surviving spouse have to sell the family home to pay? It just seems so awful, but there is so little comment about it in the media. Is that how the government hope to get away with this stealth death tax?

Yorkshireman99

SPBG wrote: »

Why is the media so quiet about the huge increase in probate fees the government is bringing in in May? Is it a tax on the south of England where property prices are so expensive? Just because someone has managed to buy a house doesn't mean they have loads of spare money to pay this unfair and enormous tax. Will the surviving spouse have to sell the family home to pay? It just seems so awful, but there is so little comment about it in the media. Is that how the government hope to get away with this stealth death tax?

It has been widely featured in the press. On an estate of £499,999 the new fee is £785 more than at present or 0.002% of the estate value. Hardly an "enormous tax" is it? Much ado about nothing IMHO.