Inheritance Tax and Gift Allowance

Kass_Evans

My aunt recently died and my solicitor asked if she had made any gifts in the last two years. The answer was no so I was told this would increase the £325,000 to £331,000 but it would appear that HMRC do not agree. I am unable to find any information on this.

user1977

What's your solicitor's (current) advice? Surely it's them you should be looking to for an explanation of their previous advice?

polar_pig

So the solicitor is saying the estate Nil Rate Band should be increased from £325k to £331k because she didn't make any gifts in the last two years? This seems unusual, I'd ask the solicitor to explain why this is. So the solicitor has applied for probate and HMRC are querying the figures?

Smudgeismydog

I think the solicitor is referring to the £3,000 annual exemption, which if not used in the previous tax year, you can scoop up and use alongside this year’s exemption. So the Nil Rate Band of £325,000 is being uplifted by £6,000.

HappyHarry

I believe the £3,000 per year annual exemption is applicable to lifetime transfers and not post-death transfers.

Keep_pedalling

Any unused annual exemptions die with the deceased they can’t be used to inflate the NRB. I hope you are not using this solicitor to apply for probate.