FAQs - Personal Representative (Executor)

Q. Will I be liable to Capital Gains Tax?

A. As personal representative, if you sell capital assets from the estate, you are liable to Capital Gains Tax.

When you take control of the deceased's assets, they are treated as if you had acquired them at their market value at the date of death.

When you transfer an asset to a beneficiary under the will or under the rules of intestacy, you are not treated as disposing of it for Capital Gains Tax purposes. Instead, the beneficiary is treated as having acquired the asset on the date of death at its value for Inheritance Tax if there was liability, or otherwise at its market value on that date.

Sometimes you may need to sell assets during your period as personal representative, for example to raise money to pay Inheritance Tax or to settle cash legacies. If so, you will have to declare any chargeable gains you make, and pay Capital Gains Tax out of estate funds. Capital Gains Tax is chargeable only on gains arising between the date of death and when the assets are sold.

The rate of Capital Gains Tax for personal representatives for 2008-09 is 18 per cent.