Advice on when/how to pay Capital Gains Tax

priyab

Am in the middle of administering my father's estate after he recently passed away - he had some shares and a house in his name which we plan to sell (as executors not beneficiaries). I think we will be liable to pay some capital gains tax, but we do plan to not sell everything in one go so that we can make use of the allowances available over the next 2 years which will at least help lessen some of the tax due. My question is, do you have to (or is it possible/best to?) wait until administration of an estate is complete before paying any CGT due in total or should you report and do it year by year? Looking at the figures we will be dealing with, we will need to complete a trust and estate tax return for the whole administration period but I'm unclear on the procedure basically (also, am aware in terms of selling property you need to pay any CGT due within 30 days of completion). 

Pennywise

As trustees/executors, you'll only have CGT to pay on the uplift in value between death and sale, which, unless the estate is large, is pretty unlikely to cause a CGT liability.  Base costs are uplifted to market value as at date of death, so your "base cost" as executor/trustee is market value on date of death, as per the IHT return.

priyab

Pennywise said:

As trustees/executors, you'll only have CGT to pay on the uplift in value between death and sale, which, unless the estate is large, is pretty unlikely to cause a CGT liability.  Base costs are uplifted to market value as at date of death, so your "base cost" as executor/trustee is market value on date of death, as per the IHT return.

Yes, we have valuation of some of the investments at date of death and there has definitely been an increase in value between then and now (and will probably be more so by the time we actually sell). By my calculations, the increases will go just over the estate allowance so CGT will be liable which is why I just wanted some advice on how you go about reporting it. 

Jeremy535897

Comprehensive guidance here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/death-personal-representatives-and-legatees-hs282-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs282-death-personal-representatives-and-legatees-2018