IHT400 - where to enter money left to grandchildren

sahbuk

I'm going through the probate for my mother, who sadly passed away recently. In her will, she left an equal sum of money to each of her grandchildren (all of whom are over 18), as well as all of her jewellery to her granddaughter. I may be missing something obvious, but I can't find where to enter these details on IHT400 - they all seem to relate to gifts during her lifetime.

Flugelhorn

if it is in the will then it is part of her estate and you just need the overall value of the estate -

sahbuk

Unfortunately, there isn't just one box where you enter the value of the estate, it's a cumulation of values entered into boxes on pages 7 to 11, which is where I'm having the problem.

probate_slave

The jewellery (once you have obtained a probate valuation from a jeweller's) is entered on the first page of IHT407 "Household and personal goods", then accumulated with other possessions on page 6 of IHT407, and finally box 55 of IHT400 itself.

The will gifts of money to grandchildren aren't entered anywhere but are taken into account when HMRC calculate any IHT due, which is why they ask for a copy of the will.

Good luck!

Keep_pedalling

You seem very confused, so first things first, is her estate large enough for you to have to do an IHT return? What is the value of her estate? What was her marital status?

poseidon1

sahbuk said:

I'm going through the probate for my mother, who sadly passed away recently. In her will, she left an equal sum of money to each of her grandchildren (all of whom are over 18), as well as all of her jewellery to her granddaughter. I may be missing something obvious, but I can't find where to enter these details on IHT400 - they all seem to relate to gifts during her lifetime.

I assume you are aware there are extensive supporting notes  ( 92 pages ) of how to fill in the IHT 400? - IHT 400 (2021) Notes.

 If having perused  the notes you are still having difficulty completing the form perhaps you should get professional help. If IHT is an issue  for the estate, your challenges won't cease with the form itself.

sahbuk

Thanks for the replies. My mother was a widow, and her estate is valued at over one million pounds, so despite transferred nil rate bands, and leaving the majority of her estate to the surviving direct descendants, we will still pay inheritance tax.
Regarding the jewellery, none of the items are worth more than £1500 individually , so don't get entered into the first box on IHT407. Instead they'd be combined with the value of other household and personal goods on the final page, so they won't be shown as separate total. I'm assuming that HMRC would get back to me for this value once they see the will. The IHT400 notes don't really help in these regards.

probate_slave

Yes, it's true that they don't ask for individual items of jewellery worth less than £1,500. However, I do recommend making an entry on page 1 for the entire collection, as it's a perfect opportunity to value the legacy. Something like: Bequest of jewellery in the Will (see valuation) £3,755

Anything which avoids the need for further correspondence with HMRC will spare you many months of delay.

kipperman

sahbuk said:

Thanks for the replies. My mother was a widow, and her estate is valued at over one million pounds, so despite transferred nil rate bands, and leaving the majority of her estate to the surviving direct descendants, we will still pay inheritance tax.
Regarding the jewellery, none of the items are worth more than £1500 individually , so don't get entered into the first box on IHT407. Instead they'd be combined with the value of other household and personal goods on the final page, so they won't be shown as separate total. I'm assuming that HMRC would get back to me for this value once they see the will. The IHT400 notes don't really help in these regards.

Just remember that for IHT purposes it is the open market value that counts - and you may well find that a lot of jewellery items might only fetch melt down values which in many cases are quite small. Some quite decent stuff that belonged to our Mum would have achieved very little on the open market.

sahbuk

Regarding jewellery, will HMRC insist on a valuation report for each of the most expensive items (as none are worth £1500)?
Only a few are worth more than £100 - we've just done a rough guess of the total value as being £1000

Silvertabby

sahbuk said:

Regarding jewellery, will HMRC insist on a valuation report for each of the most expensive items (as none are worth £1500)?
Only a few are worth more than £100 - we've just done a rough guess of the total value as being £1000

It's not the valuation for insurance purposes you need  - it's the amount you'd get if you sold the jewellery.  ie, basically the scrap metal value.  This will be a LOT less than the insurance valuation.