Inheritance Tax Bill - when do you get it? Before, during or after Probate?

Trooper21

What I don't know is how much, if any, HMRC are going to expect.

Not being funny but I've had the super-deep joy of HMRC sending me a "Sorry, mate, we've just figured out that actually you owe us £7000 due to five years of backdated High Income Child Benefit Charge that we have never once told you about" after receiving letters from them every year to the effect of "you absolutely don't have ANY other tax liabilities based on PAYE and your income level, so you do not need to contact us."

If HMRC think a £7k personal tax bill is entirely consistent with "you don't owe us anything and you don't need to contact us", I'd rather wait until I see something in writing that tells me either that tax is owed or it isn't.

We are in a similar position but awaiting Agricultural relief as part of the IHT submission. We have been issued grant of probate, the deadline for processing (or notifying us of further queries) has been and gone. Yet we are still no wiser as to it being confirmed as a zero IHT/successful APR claim this enabling us to move on with our lives.

It just seems to add onto what is already a stressful time for people. The solicitor has told us we can trust the assurance from HMRC if we wish (dated letter with lapsed deadline)…or not as requesting a clearance certificate may trigger them looking at it in more depth.

She seems to think it takes longer, but can’t say when this point on the horizon is.

Trooper21

I should add, yes we want the piece of paper that says zero or otherwise for the same reasons.