Tax return for deceased grandmother

[Bathonian]

Hello all,

Been a while since I have been around these parts but this was the first place I thought of when I had this question.

My grandmother recently died. I have been taking care of her tax returns for the last few years and want to assist her tax affairs which I believe need to be in order before we apply for probate. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I understand I will need to submit a paper return, and my mother will sign it as executor.

There is the period for the tax year 21/22, for which she lived for the entire period. Then there is the period from the beginning of the tax year 22/23 up to the date of her death a few months back.

So my questions are:

1. Do I have to submit one return or two?
2. Am I able to submit for the 22/23 tax year yet given that the tax year is not complete?

I did speak to HMRC on the phone about this and they said I could not submit for 22/23 until the tax year was complete. So any information is much appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Dod101]

Personally I would get the return for 2021/22 completed asap as it will soon run into the deadline anyway. For the current year, I would certainly do the calculation once you have everything together. Whether you can actually submit it or not is something I do not know but why ask HMRC if you are not going to accept what they say? You will need the figures anyway for probate.

Dod

[Bathonian]

Thanks Dod. I have all the details for the 21/22 so it should be very simple to do. Private pension, state pension, some dividends, bank interest. Nothing more than that. I already have the summaries for each and have been doing her returns for a fair few years now.

On HMRC, it is not that I don't want to accept what they say but the person I spoke to seemed very unsure as to what the answer was. I did search online for guidance from HMRC but did not find what I was looking for. Hence I thought it was worth asking the community here in case anyone has some experience or information they can share.

[DrFfybes]

If she routinelt submitted one, then submitting for 21/22 should be done, preferable before the deadline!

When we experienced this in the past, the person died only a few months into the tax year. We spoke to HMRC who agreed that as there would be no tax due on the income for the short period, a return for the partial year was not required, but it will depend on the amounts inolved.

Paul

[Bathonian]

Thank you. I will crack on with 21/22 and then cross the 22/23 bridge if and when required then.

[Dod101]

If she routinelt submitted one, then submitting for 21/22 should be done, preferable before the deadline!

When we experienced this in the past, the person died only a few months into the tax year. We spoke to HMRC who agreed that as there would be no tax due on the income for the short period, a return for the partial year was not required, but it will depend on the amounts inolved.

Paul

For the year of death, I think you get the full year allowances against what will usually be a part year pension and so on, so as Dr F says there may well be no tax due, maybe a rebate though! It is a while since I have done this.

Dod

[Bathonian]

That's very helpful to know on the allowances. I suspect in that case there will be no further tax to pay and a possible rebate. Will need to do the sums.

[Lootman]

Personally I would get the return for 2021/22 completed asap as it will soon run into the deadline anyway. For the current year

Given this is a paper return, the deadline has already passed. However I imagine that HMRC would be flexible in cases where the taxpayer died.