An 'excepted estate' is an estate where no Inheritance Tax is due. Although there are forms to complete, a full Inheritance Tax account (form IHT400) isn't required.
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If the deceased person died between 6 April 1996 and 5 April 2002, the estate will generally be an excepted estate if it qualifies as a low value estate.
This means if you're a personal applicant you'll probably need to fill in form IHT205 Return of Estate Information (or form C5 in Scotland) as part of the probate process. If you're a solicitor you only need to swear the oath.
To qualify as a low value estate, the estate must meet all the following conditions:
Deaths between |
Excepted estate limit |
Assets held outside of the UK limit |
Specified transfers limit |
|---|---|---|---|
6 April 1996 and 5 April 1998 |
£180,000 |
£30,000 |
£50,000 |
6 April 1998 and 5 April 2000 |
£200,000 |
£50,000 |
£75,000 |
6 April 2000 and 5 April 2002 |
£210,000 |
£50,000 |
£75,000 |
Specified transfers are gifts that the deceased person made during their lifetime which were gifts of cash, quoted stocks or shares.
If the deceased made a gift to someone and still continued to benefit from it - such as a house they gave away but still continued to live in - it is considered a gift with reservation of benefit, and counts as still being part of their estate for Inheritance Tax purposes.
