| According to the latest edition of the HMRC inheritance tax and trusts newsletter, executors should consider obtaining three independent valuations of a property before submitting form IHT400. Failure to do this may result in penalties under HMRC’s ‘reasonabe care’ regime.
Negative trends within the property market has led to uncertany in extimating property prices, with personal representatives increasingly asked to reduce valuations after probate whilst prices fall. In the newsletter, HMRC suggest that it will normally refuse to re-value a property if the estate has already paid IHT based on an agreed valuation. It will only consider re-valuation if the original estimate was done with incomplete or incorrect information. “The recent fall in property values alone is not sufficient reason to re-open an earlier value”, it says.
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