With apologies to Daniel Defoe (1726), Benjamin Franklin (1817) and Margaret Mitchell (1936) for misquoting their words.
What a frustrating experience I have had. And I can't be alone. There must be loads of families picking their way through the mud of Probate and tax on a deceased estate. Miserable topic for a blog post, I know, but necessary. If I can shed some light on the process, my job will be done.
Tip 1 : Don't rush to return the forms. Get as much of financial information as possible first. Once you have copies of the death certificate and the Will, use this to get access to account information and balances. Compile a mini-statement and work out which if any funds are held jointly and therefore not in the Grant of Probate. If funds are held in Trust, get professional help; the notes on this section looked very complicated.
A Probate interview will be required, usually within a month of submitting the forms. The Registry is quite inflexible on the date and location for this interview, so expect to be inconvenienced but the interview itself is short, straight forward and not scary at all. The Grant will arrive within a week. Order several copies, you will need one for each application.
Tip 2 : If the deceased has any funds or assets overseas (or even in Scotland!), apply to get a Grant of Probate for use outside of England and Wales. This includes a court certified copy of the Will.
Financial institutions will usually only pay out the account balance after Probate is granted, but they will suspend the account from the date of death and basic rate tax will be applied to the funds from date of death to date of payout. This can be claimed back later if necessary.
And now for the difficult bit - dealing with HMRC. You will quickly discover that their state-of-art IT systems do not communicate with each other. This can be upsetting and frustrating, and common sense seems to go out the window.
The Probate forms include the HMRC form Return of Estate Information IHT205(2006), which determines the inheritance tax liability. You are also advised to submit form R27, which identifies the Executor of the deceased estate and holds the Executor responsible for everything thereafter. In Mom's case, I also completed form R40, because she was retired and only had savings income. So far, so good. All forms can be found here.
Tip 3 : Expect the unexpected. And don't expect to be treated sympathetically.
Having gone through all of this and been granted Probate, the end is in sight. Why then did I end up in tears on the phone to HMRC? Partly because I had been on hold for over an hour and was exhausted, and partly because of the ludicrous statement from the HMRC member of staff. There is no record of form R40 and I have to repeat the submission using my late mother's online self-assessment account. Mind you, I have a letter thanking me the completed R40 and I have received the tax calculation and we have banked the repayment cheque! So the mind boggles as to how all that can happen if they never received form R40. And then, of course, the self-assessment login for a deceased person is tricky. After another hour holding for someone on the help desk I did speak to a sensible woman who helped me unblock the login, but I still have to wait for the activation code before I can complete the online form, which as you recall is a duplication of the information I have already provided and which has already been assessed! Of course, there was no apology and no easy mechanism for complaints.
Tip 4 : Cover all bases. Adopt a belt-and-braces approach when dealing with HMRC.
So, all's well that ends well? Almost. There are organisations which should be named and shamed, but probably not here. None of the organisations gave me any information about how long it would take to pay out. Most asked for additional forms to be completed including bank information for direct payments, and then sent a cheque instead! Certainly, HMRC should be singled out as being particularly unhelpful. A dedicated Tax and Probate phone number would have been very useful for ironing out the problems.
Tip 5 : The paperwork is mountainous. And it isn't always clear why something has been sent. Try to keep a tally of time spent on phone calls as these expenses can be re-claimed from the Estate.
And finally, symbolically, it's good to have everything squared away, but taking care of someone's business for the last time cannot be rushed. Have courage and a sense of humour. It will turn out OK. Bear in mind that those unsympathetic people have probably never undertaken such a task themselves and have no idea of the commitment it takes. When the job is done right, the filing is done, any tax and expenses paid, it will be a relief. But it will also be the last of Mom.
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