IHT exempt carer travel

stria_swifter

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

Marcon

stria_swifter said:

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

I think HMRC are the only ones likely to have a definitive answer on which you can rely. Maybe try https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/ and ask your question there?

Keep_pedalling

Does your mother’s estate actually fall into IHT territory when you apply her NRB and RNRB? If she was a widow then this could be up to £1M, half that If she was not. 

stria_swifter

Keep_pedalling said:

Does your mother’s estate actually fall into IHT territory when you apply her NRB and RNRB? If she was a widow then this could be up to £1M, half that If she was not. 

Unfortunately is does fall into IHT territory

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunately I don’t think you can claim these expenses as a debt owed by the estate unless you also happen to be a care professional. 

mybestattempt

Marcon said:

stria_swifter said:

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

I think HMRC are the only ones likely to have a definitive answer on which you can rely. Maybe try https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/ and ask your question there?

Unfortunately, the HMRC Community Forum doesn't have a section for Inheritance Tax and as it's terms and conditions say, it isn't a substitute for HMRC official guidance which in turn doesn't provide any information for the specific question.

I doubt whether HMRC would give a definitive answer to provide reassurance for the OP before submitting the IHT400.

My own view is that if HMRC decided to query a IHT return to establish whether gifts had been omitted they might challenge whether reimbursed flight costs from Australia were "carer costs" and potentially a lot more, probably sensitive, information than the OP has given here would be asked for.

Keep_pedalling

mybestattempt said:

Marcon said:

stria_swifter said:

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

I think HMRC are the only ones likely to have a definitive answer on which you can rely. Maybe try https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/ and ask your questioquestion.

Unfortunately, the HMRC Community Forum doesn't have a section for Inheritance Tax and as it's terms and conditions say, it isn't a substitute for HMRC official guidance which in turn doesn't provide any information for the specific question.

I doubt whether HMRC would give a definitive answer to provide reassurance for the OP before submitting the IHT400.

My own view is that if HMRC decided to query a IHT return to establish whether gifts had been omitted they might challenge whether reimbursed flight costs from Australia were "carer costs" and potentially a lot more, probably sensitive, information than the OP has given here would be asked for.

I may have misread to opening post, but I think the OP is looking to claim back their expenses after their mother’s death rather than having them paid for by their mother at the time. If her mother had paid her reasonable expenses at the time I don’t think it that would be considered a gift. Claiming those expenses after death is somewhat more difficult.

mybestattempt

Keep_pedalling said:

mybestattempt said:

Marcon said:

stria_swifter said:

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

I think HMRC are the only ones likely to have a definitive answer on which you can rely. Maybe try https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/ and ask your questioquestion.

Unfortunately, the HMRC Community Forum doesn't have a section for Inheritance Tax and as it's terms and conditions say, it isn't a substitute for HMRC official guidance which in turn doesn't provide any information for the specific question.

I doubt whether HMRC would give a definitive answer to provide reassurance for the OP before submitting the IHT400.

My own view is that if HMRC decided to query a IHT return to establish whether gifts had been omitted they might challenge whether reimbursed flight costs from Australia were "carer costs" and potentially a lot more, probably sensitive, information than the OP has given here would be asked for.

I may have misread to opening post, but I think the OP is looking to claim back their expenses after their mother’s death rather than having them paid for by their mother at the time. If her mother had paid her reasonable expenses at the time I don’t think it that would be considered a gift. Claiming those expenses after death is somewhat more difficult.

I read it that the OPs mother had reimbursed the costs of flights for three visits to the UK during her lifetime and the OP wanted to know whether they were gifts which needed to be included in the IHT400 or care costs which would not.

RAS

Did the cost exceed the annual gift allowance, if mum had already given gifts to other people?

silvercar

mybestattempt said:

Keep_pedalling said:

mybestattempt said:

Marcon said:

stria_swifter said:

Hello

my mother has recently passed away.  I travelled 7 times from Australia over the last 18 months to care for her and give my sister a break.  The alternate was respite care which we did not want.  The first few trips I took paid leave and paid for travel, the last few I stopped paid work and alternated my time 50% with my Australian family and 50% in UK.  My mother reimbursed me for the last 3 flights.

We took the decision to do this as it was a better outcome for my mother and us and also as the cost of flying me over was similar to the cost of full time care.  I was under the impression we could charge the flight cost as "carer cost" and not declare as a gift.  I am now less sure having read HMRC pages and this forum.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?  Whereas I would prefer not to declare as a gift, I would rather get the IHT calculation correct so I do not delay probate!

Many thanks

I think HMRC are the only ones likely to have a definitive answer on which you can rely. Maybe try https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/ and ask your questioquestion.

Unfortunately, the HMRC Community Forum doesn't have a section for Inheritance Tax and as it's terms and conditions say, it isn't a substitute for HMRC official guidance which in turn doesn't provide any information for the specific question.

I doubt whether HMRC would give a definitive answer to provide reassurance for the OP before submitting the IHT400.

My own view is that if HMRC decided to query a IHT return to establish whether gifts had been omitted they might challenge whether reimbursed flight costs from Australia were "carer costs" and potentially a lot more, probably sensitive, information than the OP has given here would be asked for.

I may have misread to opening post, but I think the OP is looking to claim back their expenses after their mother’s death rather than having them paid for by their mother at the time. If her mother had paid her reasonable expenses at the time I don’t think it that would be considered a gift. Claiming those expenses after death is somewhat more difficult.

I read it that the OPs mother had reimbursed the costs of flights for three visits to the UK during her lifetime and the OP wanted to know whether they were gifts which needed to be included in the IHT400 or care costs which would not.

I also read it this way. OP states “my mother reimbursed me”. Sounds like OP paid for the flights and was reimbursed by the mother.

So the question is whether they were care costs or a gift. Is there an option where the mother could have decided she wanted to see her child so paid for the flights, whose credit card was used being irrelevant?

stria_swifter

thanks all. I confirm cost reimbursed before death.  I will leave to HMRC