Final Accounts - Funeral expenses from estate

ameliarate

The wake is an accepted funeral expense according to HMRC for IHT purposes..

Mackhie

ameliarate said:

The wake is an accepted funeral expense according to HMRC for IHT purposes..

Yes. I'm past the 'Report the estate's value to HMRC'/completing an IHT205 form stage.

The question here is, is it an expense for purposes of distributing the estate, not paying taxes. They aren't always the same. What might be excluded for tax purposes might not be counted as an expense when dividing up the estate.

Thanks anyway.

Mojisola

Mackhie said:

The question here is, is it an expense for purposes of distributing the estate, not paying taxes.

Yes, the wake expenses are.

Personally, I'd pay for the plaque out of my own money.

Mackhie

Mojisola said:

Mackhie said:

The question here is, is it an expense for purposes of distributing the estate, not paying taxes.

Yes, the wake expenses are.

Personally, I'd pay for the plaque out of my own money.

Yes. Thanks! This is what I'm going with..

Mackhie

One more thing. I read somewhere else (can't remember if it was this site or another site) that purchasing the Death Certificates are NOT administrative expenses. That can't be right, surely!

Mojisola

Mackhie said:

One more thing. I read somewhere else (can't remember if it was this site or another site) that purchasing the Death Certificates are NOT administrative expenses. That can't be right, surely!

Our solicitor put these costs through without any problem.

xylophone

Any one of you care to maybe give some reference or a link to some website with  some really useful advice pertaining to this matter?

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm10373

"You should allow as a reasonable funeral expense the cost of a headstone that finishes off, describes and marks the grave. This follows the decisions in the case of Gammell v Wilson and Another [1982] AC 27 and in the Scottish case of Prentice v Chalmers [1985] SLT 168.

In deciding what is reasonable you should take account of the deceased’s background and profession. You may need to distinguish between a gravestone and a memorial, which could be a plaque inside a church or a memorial monument. This is because a memorial is not strictly allowable as a reasonable funeral expense. (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

You should seek advice where there is any doubt or disagreement"

A somewhat grey area? Does the plaque in the grounds of the crematorium mark where the ashes are interred?

SevenOfNine

Mackhie said:

SevenOfNine said:

Yes, all of it, with receipts, & he's not "contributing" to the plaque, the cost is met from estate funds.

Whatever the "proper" terms are. 'Contributing to',....'met from estate funds' whatever  I know you're all trying to help, but I just want this finalised, not become an expert on proper financial terminology. If I reclaim the cost, then yes, it will end up being 'met from estate funds'. A simple yes or no.

A simple "no need to be rude" seems an appropriate final response from me to you.

Mackhie

xylophone said:

Any one of you care to maybe give some reference or a link to some website with  some really useful advice pertaining to this matter?

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm10373

"You should allow as a reasonable funeral expense the cost of a headstone that finishes off, describes and marks the grave. This follows the decisions in the case of Gammell v Wilson and Another [1982] AC 27 and in the Scottish case of Prentice v Chalmers [1985] SLT 168.

In deciding what is reasonable you should take account of the deceased’s background and profession. You may need to distinguish between a gravestone and a memorial, which could be a plaque inside a church or a memorial monument. This is because a memorial is not strictly allowable as a reasonable funeral expense. (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

You should seek advice where there is any doubt or disagreement"

A somewhat grey area? Does the plaque in the grounds of the crematorium mark where the ashes are interred?

Thanks for this, although it relates to expenses with regards to inheritance tax, not with distributing the estate. As far as I am aware, there may be differences in each case as to what exactly can be regarded as reasonable expenses.

I got some legal advice on this matter today. The bottom line is that the wake IS part of the funeral expense, a memorial plaque is not. (As I stated earlier, and others have suggested, I suspected that this might be the case).

Thanks all the same for posting this up.