HMRC has announced changes to the way in which it deals with the “Probate Summary” form IHT421 for grants in England and Wales.
The Revenue says it will now be emailing the forms directly to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), rather than returning them. Once this has been done, it adds:
“We’ll either write to you or include a note on the calculations to tell you what we’ve done.”
The change is designed to help speed up the process of issuing grants, and HMRC suggests that its customers should, “send applications for a grant to HMCTS, 15 working days after they have sent their form IHT400 to HMRC. The form IHT421 has been amended to reflect this process change.”
In Scotland, HMRC will continue to send out the letter of confirmation (SL189), which can then be forwarded to the Sheriff’s court along with a C1 [confirmation] application.
In addition, HMRC is also now allowing agents to submit forms IHT400 and IHT100 via Dropbox in situations “where it’s not possible or practical to submit them by post”. While agents to not need any special software or to have Dropbox installed to submit accounts this way, they are requested to contact HMRC prior to using the service.
If agents successfully submit their Inheritance Tax account using Dropbox, they will not have to submit the same account on paper at a later date.
HMRC advises anyone wishing to use Dropbox to submit accounts in this way should send an email to iht.agents@hmrc.gov.uk. There’s no cost to use Dropbox for this purpose.
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