New queries, issue 4600

Probate value

Will 20-year delay in obtaining probate affect a capital gains tax valuation?

We have a client whose parents died in 1994 and left their house to her as their sole beneficiary. The house is now quite dilapidated and has not been lived in since 1994. It occupies what is now valuable development land and a couple of informal offers have been received for the freehold.

However for various family reasons probate on the parents’ estate was not obtained until October 2016. Naturally the client would like to use the October 2016 value as her base cost when calculating the capital gain on the property and I can find nothing HMRC could use to dispute that.

Taxation readers’ views would be very much appreciated please on how to approach this and what HMRC’s response is likely to be.

Query 18 988– Property...