Inheritance Tax process changes

We have seen that Covid-19 is changing the way the world works. HMRC have made changes to the inheritance tax process and are no longer accepting cheques, and will not make payments by cheque. They have also agreed to accept printed signatures on IHT400 and IHT100 forms where professionals are acting and the new criteria is followed. It is interesting to see how the legal world is adjusting, due to the the current crisis, to ensure that matters can continue.

I anticipate there will be further adjustments the longer this goes on. We welcome the changes, and wait to see whether these can be adopted as the new procedure.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to change. Because of this, we are introducing new ways of working. As part of this we will be making the following changes:

Paying us by cheque

We will no longer accept payment by cheque. Payment of Inheritance Tax must now be made by one of the other methods of payment listed at https://www.gov.uk/paying-inheritance-tax. We recommend you pay by Faster Payments (online or telephone banking), CHAPS or Bacs to HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) account.

Making repayments to you

We will no longer make repayments using payable orders/cheques. Instead, we will make payments directly to a customer’s bank account using Faster Payments.

To deal with your repayment, we will need some more information from you.

Signing forms IHT400 and IHT100

We recognise that the need for all Legal Personal Representatives (‘LPRs’) or trustees to physically sign the form IHT400 and IHT100 - ‘Inheritance Tax Account’ makes submitting these forms difficult whilst the current measures for self-isolation and social distancing are in place.

For this reason, we have agreed a new, temporary process.

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Contact Hedges for Inheritance Tax Advice