Help with IHT 400 - jointly owned assets IHT 404/405

Ali71

Hello good people,

My head is about to burst. I am filling IHT400 and have almost got it done, but I have a question about jointly owned assets. Looking at it, as I own half of my Dad's house (made over to me when my Mum died), it seems if I fill in IHT 404 it says details of jointly owned assets, and if it is the deceased's house states that etc. Then you also have to fill in IHT 405 with details of all the property, houses, land etc that the deceased owned, and that means you enter the value of half the house twice on the IHT 400. Question 49 is for jointly owned assets, and question 51 deceased's residence (or share thereof in this instance). So I should only put the value in one box, or I end up doubling up. But which is it? Am I a joint asset holder, or do I just put the value of his half in "deceased residence?" Sorry if I am confusing all, I did say my head was exploding........might ring HM tomorrow and ask them but bit wary as you never seem to get the right answer. The estate will be well below inheritance tax level.

Many thanks

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poppystar

I had exactly the same problem! When I phoned the helpline they said I didn’t have to complete 405. I can’t off hand remember what reason they gave but it meant the house wasn’t counted 1.5 times so I followed their advice. 
It’s half in box 49 and 0 then goes in box 51. I worked on the paper copy and on that there is also a note at box 51 saying to use box 49 where joint ownership. Not sure what the online version looks like if that is what you’re using.
Hope that helps.

Edit
Looking briefly at the schedule in IHT400. Box 32 says IHT405 is for house, land buildings in sole name which the house isn’t if you were left half by your mum. Which I guess was the reason I didn’t recall above.

Ali71

Oh thank goodness it wasn't just me!!! I've now got a thumping head and was feeling rather depressed about it all, but you've just cheered me up no end. I've been grappling with the paper version, less stressful than the online one. Done it in rough (and I mean rough), was going to do it again a bit more neatly once I'd worked round this bit. That's a great help, thanks for that, you're a star  

Ali71

Hi,

Now doing the neat and tidy version of this hellious document!!
 Under jointly owned assets, IHT404, C) is date joint ownership started, presumably that is the date my name was added as joint owner to the deeds etc. D) states contribution by each joint owner, to be shown as fractions. As I came by it as a beneficiary of my Mums will, what do I put as my contribution?? "Zero" and a note that my half inherited or something totally different? I want to get it right if I can!!

Thank you

naedanger

I agree with your date of joint ownership. But for your contribution I would put down a half - you basically inherited your late mother's half - so that is your contribution. (Then you can add an explanatory note if you wish.) 

This is all just going on what you have said, and what seems reasonable to me. I did not have this issue.

D2023

Hi Ali71, how did you get on with submitting your forms? Did HMRC accept the IHT404 without IHT405?

RAS

The rules have changed since then.

D2023

RAS, which rules have changed?

Sarahspangles

D2023 said:

RAS, which rules have changed?

We found the process had changed significantly between dealing with FIL’s and MIL’s estate I.e between Spring ‘21 and Winter ‘22. 

Instead of downloading forms up front we followed the steps in https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died - this routes you through the forms you actually need to submit.  Some of these are the same form numbers but with revisions, if you’re interested in what has changed click on ‘See all updates’ when you’re on the page which links to that form.  The IHT400 notes have changed significantly for deaths after the beginning of last year to reflect changes in what needs to be reported. 

Also worth noting if you weren’t planning to submit probate online, the paper process is taking 4x as long.

DoingMyIHT

Just to update this in 2025, as I have just been grappling with the exact same issue and there is surprisingly little information online about this. The above post was very helpful.

There is definitely a contradiction on the forms, because (as pointed put above) IHT400 states clearly that IHT405 is only for property in the deceased's sole name but IHT404 clearly states that IHT405 must be filled in if one of the assets is a house etc. It does not mention any exemption. So it seems like both forms must always be filled in if a house or land is involved. 

So I just called HMRC helpline and this is their advice:
My case: only one house owned. My wife and I are joint tenants. My wife passed away and I am the sole beneficiary of the estate. 
Advice: in IHT404, enter the house in box 1, the mortgage in box 2 and do not submit IHT405 because it does not apply to jointly owned assets. No need to fill in boxes C, D and E either.

I was also confused about box 4 (exemptions and relief). It mentions "spouse exemption" specifically but I was told that I don't need to specifically claim spouse exemption here. There may be more complex cases where you need to do this but if you are the spouse and sole beneficiary, it does not seem to be needed. So in my case, I was advised to leave this empty.