Q on inheritance tax

The value of the house for IHT is the value of the house, AFAIUI. Whatever costs are incurred in in selling it, or improving it, are irrelevant.

Say you have a ring which is valued at £200.

You take it to auction where it fails to meet it's reserve. You sell it shortly afterwards for £50. Auctioners fees £25. Transport etc £20.

Value for IHT purposes? £200.

Say you have a ring which is valued at 200.

You take it to auction where it fails to meet it's reserve. You sell it shortly afterwards for 50. Auctioners fees 25. Transport etc 20.

Value for IHT purposes? 200.

==================================================== Interesting if not counter intuitive. So if the house is a bit of a mess and is thus valued at say 200k, and I then pretty-it-up ala multiple TV shows, and sell it for 300k , no one will complain?

Do you know who determines the value? Can I pick a few valuers and choose the lowest one? Can I get my mate in? " "no more than 50 in that condition mate"

no

Yep, if HMRC will accept it, of course you can.

So value everything down.

Yep, if HMRC will accept it, of course you can.

So value everything down.

======================================Just been looking at the website, amazingly it says;

The full market value of any house owned by the deceased should be shown >>>>although a professional valuation is not normally required

n?

The method is the same method it has always been.

You are valuing a house with N beds, n receptions, n baths, A sized garden, in a given area?

Look for *two* N beds, n receptions, n baths, A sized garden, houses sold within a month or two in the same area, or an equivalent area. The average of those two house's value is the value.

Get a surveyor who is used to arguing with the Revenue - so yes, get professional help if IHT is involved.

Tumbleweed wrote

There are three houses for sale on my road at exactly the same asking prices, it isn't too difficult to get a rough value by this means.

When I executed my mother's Will my sister wanted to stay in the house, so I erred on the low side for probate purposes, a reasonable thing to do, so long as it isn't a serious difference! In our case IHT was not due, but they are certainly more 'interested' when the estate is close to, or above the limit. ;-)

Ironically the govt leaflet says 'IHT only applies to a tiny percentage of estates".

This is an outright lie, certainly anywhere S of Watford, chances are it will apply to most where there is a house.

In message , Tumbleweed writes

The Estate of the deceased is, in effect, a trust and any gains or income received is potentially taxable. So those post death expenses would reduce the gain on eventual sale but wouldnt effect the IHT situation.

You may find that in most estates there is no house. Members of the non-property-owning under-classes die too, you know.

Hey! I thought you said sample size was 16, not 10.

In message , Tumbleweed writes

If the house is owned by a couple then probably IHT will only fall due when the second dies, so the number will be more like (most where there is a house)/2.

If a house is sold more or less straight away, you don't need a valuation at date of death because it will be presumed (barring exceptional circumstances) that in a short time the value does not change appreciably.

Hence the value at death either is the same as the actual sale proceeds, or can be back-calculated from the sale proceeds by reference to local house price indices on the dates of sale and of death.

It is my understanding that you cant sell the house until you get probate and you cant get probate until you value the estate. So your way doesnt work (valuing the hosue by seeing what it actually sold for).

Except that the probate valuation is a "working" figure, subject to revision. The District Valuer will - eventually - be asked to confirm it, and if you sell the house ten weeks later for half or double, he adjusts the valuation accordingly.

But you can agree a price with a buyer before getting probate, and that agreed price then *is* a valuation for probate purposes even if there has been no "formal" valuation.

Are you saying that there is a 'balancing' adjustment carried out later? If so, is that quite precise or only happens if there is a big discrepancy?

Even if that buyer pulls out later?

Actually, the starting point is going to be 50% because the other

So even if 20% of estates include a paid for house worth over

tim