In this section:
- Tax returns for personal representatives
- Completing a tax return on behalf of someone who has died
- Completing the Trust and Estate return following a death
- Tax records needed when someone dies
- Paying the deceased's tax
Completing a tax return on behalf of someone who has died
If you're the personal representative of someone who has died you'll need to settle their tax affairs before you can move on to distributing their assets according to their wishes - or as the law requires. If the deceased would have completed a Self Assessment tax return, you'll have to fill one in on their behalf.
On this page:
- When will you need to complete a return?
- Getting help and advice
- Which tax return to complete
- When to complete the tax forms
- How to send the tax return to HMRC
- What happens next
- Useful links
When will you need to complete a return?
You'll need to complete a tax return for the person who has died if they've sent us returns in previous years. You can find this out by asking the Tax Office that dealt with their tax affairs.
Even if they didn't send in returns in previous years, you may sometimes still need to complete one for them. This depends on what their circumstances were at the time when they died.
The return will cover the period from 6 April to the date the person died. If there are any tax returns outstanding for earlier tax years, you'll also have to complete those to settle the deceased's tax affairs completely.
The reason we may ask you to fill in a tax return is to make sure the right amount of tax has been paid. It may be that there's some more tax to pay, or a repayment may be due.
Claiming a tax repayment
If the death occurred part way through the tax year then there may be a tax repayment due, rather than additional tax to pay. This is because we give the full annual personal allowances for the whole of the year when the person died, even though they only received their pension or other income for part of that tax year.
You don't have to wait until the end of the tax year in which the person died to claim any tax repayment that's due or to pay any tax that's outstanding. You can ask us to issue a tax return form for the person who's died straight away.
Claiming back Income Tax
on behalf of someone who has died – learn more
Getting help and advice
The Tax Office that dealt with the deceased's tax affairs will be able to tell you what type of tax return form is required and send you the necessary forms. If you don't know which Tax Office this is, contact the one closest to the deceased's home address.
We recognise that you may need help in dealing with the deceased's tax
affairs, especially if you're personally bereaved. We also recognise that
finding all the records you need can be difficult. We can talk you through
what you need to do over the phone or in a face to face meeting, either
at the Tax Office or at your home, depending on your circumstances.
Look
up contact details for all Tax Offices
You can call HMRC Trusts Deceased estates helpline on Tel 0131 777 4030, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday, for specialist advice about the Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax liabilities of deceased estates arising after the date of death.
For help with a Self Assessment return you can call the Self Assessment Helpline on Tel 0845 900 0444. It's open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
Administering a deceased person's affairs can be complex and you might want to get professional advice from a solicitor, a tax adviser or an accountant.
Find a solicitor on the Law Society website (Opens new window)
Find a tax adviser at the Chartered Institute of Taxation website (Opens new window)
Find a chartered accountant on the ICAEW website (Opens new window)
Which tax return to complete
There are several different types of tax return to cover different situations. There are also extra pages - called supplementary pages - available for the tax return to cover certain situations.
The type of return - and any supplementary pages - that you'll use will depend on the deceased's circumstances at the time of their death. The information you'll need to gather to help you complete the tax return will depend on their circumstances too. You'll need to know what they were doing at the time when they died - for example were they:
- self employed (running a business)
- a partner in a business
- a director of a business
- a non-resident landlord
It may be that they weren't any of the above - perhaps they were a pensioner, an employee or unemployed. If that's the case and you have to fill in a return for them, you'll use the return for individuals.
You can find out more about how Self Assessment works, and how to fill out the forms, by following the links below.
Tax returns if you're self-employed or in a partnership
When to complete the tax forms
You should deal with the tax affairs of the deceased as soon as it's practical. This is because you need to add any tax repayment to the total of the assets owned by the deceased when they died. Any tax paid on behalf of the deceased must be deducted from their assets before you can start distributing them.
If you're asked to complete a tax return and wish to file this online, it must reach HMRC by 31 January following the tax year it relates to. If you wish to file this on paper, it must reach HMRC by midnight on 31 October following the tax year it relates to.
How to send the tax return to HMRC
The Self Assessment tax return can be filed either online or on paper. Before you can send the return online you must contact the deceased person's tax office and ask to be noted as personal representative on the deceased person's tax records. You will then need to register for the online service using the deceased person's name and unique taxpayer reference (UTR).
If you choose to send a paper tax return, post the completed form to the Tax Office that issued it, or hand it in at your local Tax Office.
What happens next
After you submit the tax return we'll write to you to confirm whether we'll be asking any questions about the return. We'll also issue a statement of account for the deceased showing any tax that's due to be paid or repaid.
Paying the deceased's tax - find out more
How to handle probate as a personal representative
