A man who successfully challenged his mother's final will is likely to recover the lion's share of his legal costs after the High Court ruled that his brother, who attempted to uphold the will's validity, should pay his costs on the indemnity basis . In...
An update on HMRC’s investigations into IHT Accounts following bereavements
It was interesting to see some recent analysis of HMRC statistics on their selective investigations into IHT Accounts submitted after someone has died. The story from accountants UHY Hacker Young – link below – explains that more underpaid IHT was recovered by HMRC in 2022/23 compared to the previous year, even though slightly fewer investigations were undertaken. While we agree that this could indicate a shift in focus by HMRC towards higher value estates, that’s certainly not the only possible explanation (and there could obviously be several factors at play, including the gradual increase in property values over time (overall IHT income for the Treasury does tend to increase, year on year)).
At Tanners we deal with a wide range of estates. Our team of qualified, experienced solicitors and chartered legal executives now has well over 100 years of combined experience in dealing with succession issues, IHT and related work. All of the senior lawyers in the team are also established full members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). We have a reputation for thoughtful, imaginative and constructive engagement with HMRC about IHT issues; where necessary, we are glad to engage in tough but fair negotiation with the taxman over a wide range of areas, including lifetime tax planning, property valuations and business/agricultural relief eligibility.
Jeremy Taylor TEP
Partner
T: +44 (0)1285 646146