In this section:
- Reclaiming tax if you've overpaid through your job
- Claim back tax if you've had too much deducted from your pension
- Tax return corrections and refunds
- Claiming a tax refund when you stop work
- Claiming back overpaid National Insurance contributions
- Claiming back Income Tax on behalf of someone who has died
- Getting tax-free interest on savings or claiming tax back
- Reclaiming tax on purchased life annuity income
- Understanding your tax refund
Claiming back Income Tax on behalf of someone who has died
If you're the bereaved spouse or civil partner or the personal representative of someone who's died you may be able to claim an Income Tax repayment on their behalf.
This guide explains when a tax refund might be due and how to claim a repayment.
On this page:
- When a tax refund might be due
- How to claim a refund
- Information you'll need to claim a refund
- How you'll get your refund
- Transferring the Married Couple's Allowance or the Blind Person's Allowance
- Getting more help and advice
- More useful links
When a tax refund might be due
Your spouse, civil partner or the person that you're representing might have paid too much Income Tax in the tax year they died. If they did, you'll be able to claim a tax refund on their behalf. You'll also be able to claim a refund if they paid too much tax in any of the previous five tax years.
The person might have paid too much tax because:
- their death caused their pension or wages to be stopped part way through the tax year
- their pension or wages stopped part way through the tax year
- they didn't need to pay tax - but tax was deducted from interest they received
- they made 'payments on account' of tax that turned out to be too high
- too much tax was taken off their pension or wages
Time limit for claiming a refund
You can claim tax back up to 31 January five years after the end of
the tax year (5 April) in which the overpayment was made. For example,
a claim for 2003-04 which ended on 5 April 2004 must be made by 31 January
2010.
How to claim a refund
You can claim a repayment on the person's behalf by completing:
- form R27
- form R40
- a Self Assessment tax return
Completing form R27
When we're told that someone's died, we'll normally send form R27 Potential repayment to the estate to the personal representative. The personal representative may be the person's spouse or civil partner - or an executor appointed by the will.
If you're the personal representative you'll need to complete form R27 to help us finalise the person's Income Tax. Then we'll be able to work out if there's any tax refund due.
It's important that you sign form R27 yourself - you shouldn't ask someone else to do it for you. The form includes a repayment claim.
It's important that you sign form R27 yourself - you shouldn't ask someone else to do it for you. The form includes a repayment claim.
Completing form R40
The person might have regularly used form R40 Tax Repayment to claim back tax deducted from their bank or building society interest. If they did, you can use this form straight away to claim any repayment due for the period to the date they died. (You'll also have to complete form R27 but not page 2, the section on income and allowances.)
It takes us some time to finalise the person's tax, so please allow four weeks after you've sent us the form before contacting us about the repayment.
Completing a Self Assessment tax return
The person might have normally completed a tax return. You can complete one for the period from the start of the tax year to the date they died. Tell us if you'd like to complete a tax return and we'll send you one. (You'll also have to complete form R27 but not page 2, the section on income and allowances. This is because we need to ask you about things - like the 'period of administration' - which are not on the tax return.)
Our guide 'Completing a tax return on behalf of someone who has died' tells you whether you're likely to need to complete a tax return and which form you'll need.
Learn about completing a tax return for someone who's died
Information you'll need to claim a refund
Before you can claim a refund for someone who's died, you'll need to get together details of their income. Documents that you'll find useful include:
- pension statements
- interest statements from banks and building societies
- dividend vouchers
You may also need to obtain other documents related to ‘probate’ (or ‘confirmation’ in Scotland) - the system you have to go through if you’re handling the estate of someone who has died. To find out more about this and to help you decide if it applies to you follow the link below.
Inheritance Tax and the probate process
How you'll get your refund
When we pay a tax refund we'll normally send you a payable order by post. But you can ask us to pay the money straight into your bank or building society account instead.
If you prefer, we can pay the refund to someone you nominate. We can either pay the refund to them or straight into their bank or building society account.
You'll find sections on all the forms to tell us how you'd like us to pay the refund.
Transferring the Married Couple's Allowance or the Blind Person's Allowance
Your spouse or civil partner might have been claiming Married Couple's Allowance or Blind Person's Allowance. If they didn't have enough income in the year they died to use up all the allowance, you can ask us to transfer what's left to you. You do this by completing form 575 Notice of transfer of surplus Income Tax allowance.
Go to form 575 Notice to transfer Income Tax allowance (PDF 69K)
Find out about Married Couple's Allowance
Find out about Blind Person's Allowance
Getting more help and advice
We realise that dealing with the person's tax affairs may be difficult for you - especially if you're personally bereaved.
We can provide help by phone through the Self Assessment Helpline on Tel 0845 900 0444 - open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week. Or we may be able to arrange a face-to-face meeting - this could be at your local Tax Office or, depending on your circumstances, at your home.
