IHT Late Penalty Date

bikeman

Hi, lots of websites say that IHT needs to be paid by the end of the 6 month following death else penalties start.

However, the letter that came with my IHT refernce number says "get your account to us on time to stop charging you a late penalty. Your account will be late if we receive it after 12 months starting from the end of the monmth following the date of death".

No mention of payment being made by the 6 month. Just the usual HMRC trap for the unwary?

Marcon

bikeman said:

Hi, lots of websites say that IHT needs to be paid by the end of the 6 month following death else penalties start.

However, the letter that came with my IHT refernce number says "get your account to us on time to stop charging you a late penalty. Your account will be late if we receive it after 12 months starting from the end of the monmth following the date of death".

No mention of payment being made by the 6 month. Just the usual HMRC trap for the unwary?

No - it refers to the fact that you get a penalty for being 12 months late, as well as interest. As you say, the requirement to pay tax by the end of the sixth month is well known, and is plastered all over the relevant websites and forms.