Transfer of nil band tax rate - completely confused, any help appreciated

HalastairsCompass

Hi Everyone, any help appreciated as my mother and I are stuck as to what to do next for her ref moving my fathers unused tax threshold.

Context. - My Father passed away Feb 2023. More by luck than design he was a very straightforward man, joint bank account, joint savings, both Mum and his name on the property.

When we used the HMRC site back then it showed we didn't need the probate and in fact didn't need to apply for probate for anything.  The death cert plus some form filling helped us change the names on bills, land registry etc.  

My mum wants to move his unused basic threshold to herself, planning for the future.  Because my father death is post 2021, we didn't need to do the IHT forms (217 / 400 / 402!).  It says instead on the HMRC site: "Should claim when applying for probate",

Question.  As we didn't need to do a probate at the time but now want to move the unused tax threshold for inheritance, do we raise a probate simply for that purpose?

Thank you in advance

tacpot12

You don't need to do anything yet. The transfer of the unused nil rate band allowance only needs to happen when your mother dies. Only at that point, her personal representative(s) can make the application to transfer the nil rate band that your faher did not use.  

BTW: I like how you set out your question, with the context and question clearly specified.

poppystar

You will need to claim it when doing probate for your mother, it isn’t part of the process on the first death.

HalastairsCompass

phew. Thank you all for the replies, no last minute rush of paperwork needed.  have a top weekend all.