Guidance

Register your client’s estate

Register your client’s estate online if you’re a tax agent or adviser.

Who should register

You only need to register your client’s estate if any of the following apply, the:

  • value of the estate exceeds £2.5 million
  • value of assets sold by the personal representative in any one tax year exceeds £500,000
  • total tax due exceeds £10,000

Who should not register

You do not need to register if the estate’s only income is from savings, as long as the tax due is less than £100 in any one tax year.

If the tax due is from income other than savings, or exceeds £100 tax due in any one tax year, you should use the informal payment arrangements.

When to register

Register the estate with HMRC to obtain a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) by 5 October after the tax year when the estate starts to receive income or has chargeable gains on which tax is payable.

What you need

Information about the estate

You need the:

  • name of the estate, for example estate of John Smith deceased
  • estate address and telephone number (this will be the personal representative’s address and number)
  • date the administration period ended, if applicable

Personal representative

You need the person’s:

  • name
  • address
  • date of birth
  • National Insurance number or passport number and expiry date
  • telephone number
  • email address

Details about the person who has died

You need the deceased’s:

  • name
  • last known address
  • date of birth
  • date of death
  • National Insurance number (if available)

Years of tax liability

You need to select the tax years that the estate needs to declare a liability to Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.

How to register

To register an estate, you need to have an agent services account. If you have already got one, you need the Government Gateway user ID and password you created when you set up the account.

If you do not have a Government Gateway user ID, you can create one the first time you register an estate. You will need:

You must be the person responsible for your agent firm’s tax or administrative matters. When you have set up an agent services account, you can add administrators and assistants before registering an estate.

Register now

Service availability

HMRC services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.

After you have registered

HMRC will send the personal representative the estate’s UTR, usually within 15 working days. You will need the estate’s UTR to start filing Self Assessment tax returns. You can do this by either:

Registering your client’s estate does not give you authority to act on their behalf. HMRC need authority using form 64-8 to communicate with an accountant, tax agent or adviser acting on behalf of a personal representative.

Published 17 November 2017
Last updated 21 April 2022 + show all updates
  1. The informal payments arrangements process has been updated.

  2. Welsh translation has been added.

  3. This guide has been updated to show circumstances when you should not register your client's estate.

  4. The guide has been updated to give more clarification on who should register and who should not register.

  5. The 'How to register' section has been updated to include more detail on creating an agent services account.

  6. Updated content to make clear what you need to register for an agent services account.

  7. The guidance has been updated to explain more about how to register an estate, and that you need an agent services account before being able to register.

  8. First published.