SVM108040 - Inheritance Tax: Death
A referral will be produced electronically and come to SAV via the Risk/Compliance spreadsheet. The IHT account will be added via a link through the Digital Mail Service (DMS), so that the Risk Assessor can see all the relevant information that has been submitted. Attention will be drawn to the relevant pages required by SAV by the compliance caseworker but a review of the full account should be made by the Risk Assessor in case anything has been missed.
It may be highlighted where any shares which are known to be part of the estate, but which are not taxable on the death. These shares should be taken into account in determining the size of the holding to be valued, even though part of that holding is exempt. It will also include shares in which the deceased had an interest in possession in settled property which was subject to IHT on the death of their spouse or civil partner (paragraph 2, Schedule 6 IHTA 1984) or civil partner. Even though such shares are not taxable themselves, they will be taken into account in valuing the shares which are taxable on the death.
The referral should include details on any holdings of shares or securities in the company which the caseworker knows to have been held by the spouse/civil partner. If no shares are shown but the deceased is shown as having a spouse/civil partner, you should check whether the spouse/civil partner had shares or securities in the company. Any shares or securities owned by the spouse/civil partner have to be taken into account as related property in determining the size of the holding to be valued, section 161 IHTA 1984 though, as with exempt shares, the spouse's/civil partner’s shares are not themselves subject to tax on the death.
Also consider whether there are any sums due to or from the company. 'Nature of debt' means 'loan account', 'unpaid dividend' and so on.
Information in the IHT account will provide the aggregate chargeable transfers (in other words the taxable value of the death estate plus the taxable value of lifetime transfers made within 7 years of the death). This also shows the chargeable threshold at the date of death, in other words whether the case is taxpaying on present figures.
In addition, where there have been transfers of shares by the same transferor in other companies, made at any time, this information should be supplied providing the company names and CRNs, if known.
Additional Guidance: SVM150000