IHT400 Notes : Guide to completing your Inheritance Tax account

IHT400 Notes
Guide to completing your Inheritance Tax account
If there is a range of values for the property
If you get several valuations which give a range of values for the property,
it is probably best to adopt a value that is somewhere in between the
highest and lowest values that you have got.
If I find the property is worth more than my initial valuation
If, after you have got a valuation and before you apply for a grant, you find
out about other information that casts doubts on the initial valuation, you
must reconsider it. For example, if you have a valuation that shows the
property was worth £250,000, but when you try to sell the property you
market it at £270,000 and receive some offers at that figure or more, it
suggests that the open market value for the property may be more like
£270,000. In these circumstances, we recommend that you ask the valuer
to consider amending the valuation, taking into account such things as the
length of time since the death and movements in the property market.
Land and buildings apart from the deceased’s home
Include the open market value for any other land and buildings that were
owned by the deceased, for example:
• farms
• business property, for example, a hotel, shop or factory
• timber and woodlands
• other land and buildings such as lock-up garages, redundant or
derelict land, quarries, airfields, and
• other rights that attach to land such as fishing or shooting rights.
It is strongly recommended that you get professional advice if the
estate contains this sort of land as it can be very difficult to value.
Write the address or location of the property in the space provided on
Schedule IHT405 Houses, land, buildings and interests in land.
Valuing the right to live in the house
It is very common for a married couple or civil partners to own their house
jointly. Usually, they own their house as joint tenants and, on the death of
the first to die, their share passes automatically to the survivor, so that
when the survivor dies the whole property is part of their estate.
If, however, a married couple or civil partners own their house as
tenants-in-common, where each owns a distinct share of the property, the
first to die can say what is to happen to their share of the property in their
Will. The Will might say something along the lines that:
'… while my husband/wife/civil partner remains alive and desires to
reside in the property and keeps the same in good repair and insured
to its full value with insurers approved by my trustees and pays all
rates, outgoings etc. my trustees shall not make any objection to such
residence and shall not disturb or restrict it in any way and shall not
take any steps to enforce the trust for sale or to realise (sell) any share
therein or to obtain any rent or profit from the property …'
On the survivor’s death, the property passes on to someone else, usually a
child. So the surviving spouse or civil partner continues to live in the house,
owning half of it in their own name and occupying the other half under the
protection of the Will.
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