Resealing the grant of probate

bgy3jlh

Thank you again, for taking the time to give a very thorough and considered response.

Is it not in my duty as the legal administrator of the estate to query it with the UK solicitors, now that I've noticed it? This is one of a number of oversights by them, and they weren't cheap. If I do alert them, are they obliged to make the change, and at what cost? (I wouldn't want us to have to pay, seeing as how I have written evidence of me asking them to verify all figures, complete with a link to CBA shares).

The difference amounts to ~£4.5k, which would also reduce my dad's transferrable (to my mum) IHT allowance.

Would I not need to use the adjusted figure when it comes to working out CGT? 

I don't know if it's allowed on these forums, but feel free to contact me directly. And, again, thank you a million for your time!

bgy3jlh

Are you able to share a screenshot from HMRC, advising that you use the 'close' position when reporting share prices, please?

JGB1955

Valuing stocks and shares for Inheritance Tax - GOV.UK


     

Finding the value yourself

You can value stocks and shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange by finding the price of the shares in the financial pages of a newspaper, or by looking on the newspaper’s website or a commercial website.

You should make a list of all the shares, including the name, nominal value (also known as face value) and types of shares. Enter the price given for each of the shares the person who died owned, considered together as a unit.

Use the closing value of the shares on the day the person died. Remember that a newspaper printed on the day the person died will have share prices for the day before.

poseidon1

JGB1955 said:

Valuing stocks and shares for Inheritance Tax - GOV.UK


     

Finding the value yourself

You can value stocks and shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange by finding the price of the shares in the financial pages of a newspaper, or by looking on the newspaper’s website or a commercial website.

You should make a list of all the shares, including the name, nominal value (also known as face value) and types of shares. Enter the price given for each of the shares the person who died owned, considered together as a unit.

Use the closing value of the shares on the day the person died. Remember that a newspaper printed on the day the person died will have share prices for the day before.

Appreciate JGB1955 quoting verbatim HMRC' s guidance I referred to.

As previously indicated HMRC in its guidance presupposes you are preparing a valuation for a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange, which of course is not the case here.

Closing stock prices here in the UK rarely ( if ever) are amended/adjusted up or down once they are published. Hence why the guidance does not cover this possibility.

The Australian exchange however, has this adjusted price mechanism for very specific and technical scenarios applying to traders in options, futures and other derivatives, where the final closing cash trade in a shareholding is not fully reflective of the day's trading  volumes. So for those traders closing out or settling their open positions the adjusted price is made available to them. This is encapsulated in an ASX explanatory document entitled ' What the ASX Market Price Represents and How Clear Calculates Settlement Prices'  ( very turgid reading!).

As executors of a deceased estate I cannot see how you possibly fall within  the specialist 'trader' category in whose favour adjusted prices apply.

 As defined by  HMRC's guidance you are bound by the last 'closing' cash trade price for the shareholding, and that is what is used going forward for CGT as well as IHT purposes.  As I said, I can see no basis for you to revise this now, but you are of course at liberty to try and get HMRC to accept the adjusted price, if you feel there is a material advantage to be gained by doing so.

bgy3jlh

Amazing. Thank you once again. I will run it past the Australian solicitors, before checking with the UK solicitors. But it sounds as though the figure I gave the UK solicitors is probably the right one. Thank you a million! 

bgy3jlh

I'm adding my query to the above, because it relates to my dad's shares in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (and also Lloyds shares valued at £150). 

My dad had held them both for longer than 2 years; they don't qualify for business relief (IHT relief), do they? https://www.gov.uk/business-relief-inheritance-tax The gov.uk page says 'You can’t claim Business Relief if the company mainly deals with securities, stocks or shares, land or buildings, or in making or holding investments', which I suppose is the case with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Lloyds.

bgy3jlh

Another question is: do we have to *either* transfer *or* sell the shares, or could we, straight away, sell as much as we can without attracting CGT and just transfer the rest? 

bgy3jlh

How do people decide whether to sell or transfer deceased shares? The reason I thought that transfer would be best is because I think that the value is rising such that CGT would be payable if they were sold in 1 financial year. But are we going to end up paying twice if we transfer and then sell? We do just want them sold and don't want to have to deal with LINK Market Services ever again. I can't find any guidance online. Or, even find anyone asking this question on forums. 

bgy3jlh

@poseidon1 I hope you don't mind me tagging you, but you've been super helpful.

Now that we're looking down the route of selling the shares, I've had confirmation that there is no CHESS broker, and am working my way through the list at https://www.asx.com.au/investors/start-investing/find-a-broker-adviser/full-service-and-online-brokers to ask who can help and at what cost. However, I do also notice that LINK Market Services themselves offered to sell the shares using a facilitation fee of 0.66%. Whoever sells them, can we ask for them to be sold at the highest price? I also looked up the CGT rules and they are confusing - they say that in the UK you only pay on any increase (minus £3k) since death, but Australian CGT rules are that it is paid on the increase since purchase. I haven't found solid confirmation that we would follow UK CGT rules only.