Whilst we provide a full service to clients for Probate & Estate Administration, and have since 2016, we are getting an increasing number of enquiries from Executors who want to carry out part of the estate administration process themselves. This is usually because they want to keep professional advisor costs to a minimum, but they also feel confident to carry out some of the tasks themselves.
Rhoda Cooper is a licensed practitioner for probate services and is regulated by CILEx Regulation through her company Finch Probate Limited which is a sister company to Finch Tax.
We are happy to work with Executors who want to take on some of these responsibilities, while getting us to carry out the more detailed tasks.
How we can help
Inheritance Tax – IHT400
Frequently we help Executors with the inheritance tax calculation making sure all reliefs and exemptions are claimed and any tax planning is explored. We also prepare the relevant inheritance tax return and supplementary pages.
With the inheritance tax return, it is really important that Executors complete the correct forms. Unfortunately, this is not easy to do as HMRC forms are not particularly user-friendly. If they are not correctly submitted, they could potentially hold up the grant of probate from being issued, or just create severe delays which can bring problems particularly if a property is to be sold in the near future.
Help with tax planning
We can also assist with any tax planning matters and where possible try and reduce the inheritance tax that is payable. We have written a separate blog for that called ‘Post Death Tax Planning’.
Preparing the Executor accounts
Executor accounts is another area which is really important. Once the estate has been administered and probate has been granted, the assets collected in and debts paid off, the Executors have to pay any legacies that are included in the Will and then distribute what is left to the chosen beneficiaries. So it is really important that whatever the Executor has calculated is accurate. The Executor accounts are really a summary of what assets the deceased had, what monies have been collected in and what they have paid out of the estate. The accounts will then show how the distributions have been calculated. It is really important for transparency, and it is a written record that can always be kept to show what happened to the deceased’s finances.
If you are dealing with probate or the affairs of a deceased person and you would like some support in some of the more technically complex areas of Probate & Estate Administration, please get in touch on 0116 216 7681 or email hello@finchtax.com. and we can provide you with a quote for the aspects you would like some assistance with.