Help with District Valuer querying probate value of property

Tom99

RJF71 wrote: »

Update on this: I raised a complaint with HMRC as they had issued a clearance letter for IHT and the IHT helpline had said they had no outstanding queries on the account but the District Valuer was pushing to get me to agree to the valuation which was £50k more than the probate value.
HMRC complaints have fully upheld my complaint as the clearance letter and instruction to the District Valuer were issued and this shouldn't have happened. As they have issued the clearance letter they say they have to abide by this which means that the initial probate valuation of the property will stand and they will ask the District Valuer not to contact me again.

They have also said they have made changes to their processes so that this cannot happen again.
Thanks for all the help here, property sale now progressing and hopefully i can get the estate wound up before too long

Well done.
Since IHT was paid you will have to use the probate value as your acquisition cost for CGT which it looks like you will have to pay if you get the price you hope for.
Given the date of death in May 2016 the estate no longer has an annual CGT exemption of £12,000 and estates pay CGT at 28%.
If it looks like CGT will be payable you can transfer the beneficial interest to the beneficiaries, each of whom will have a CGT allowance of £12,000 and may pay CGT at the lower rate of 18%.
Alternatively since I guess most other estate matters have been settles you could claim that the administrative period of the estate has finished and therefore the beneficial ownership has passed to the beneficiaries even though no formal transfer has taken place.