Extend the window for inheritance tax loss on sale relief claims

Key points

• The Probate Registry has doubled its estimated timeframe for processing probate applications.
• This can affect the opportunity to claim inheritance tax loss relief.
• This relief allows a lower value to be substituted for the date of death value where investments are sold at a loss within 12 months of death.
• In view of the Probate Registry’s delays the window to claim should be doubled from the current 12 months to two years from the date of death.

News that the Probate Registry has doubled its estimated timeframe for processing probate applications suggests that the system is coming under increasing strain. The stated increase in the processing timeframe from eight weeks to 16 weeks shows that the average timescale for dealing with applications is on the rise.

This has coincided with a ‘modernisation’ of the probate application process following a move to primarily online applications and a reduction in...