My colleague is in a little bit of a tizzy,
We have an estate that had an investment portfolio and a property as its principal assets. The executors instructed my colleague to have the portfolio encashed and have the broker send all the funds directly to HMRC – this included a payment of almost 7.5 instalments as well as tax on the non-instalment options. In the current property market the executors are not planning on selling the property at this stage – we can’t shift any of the other probate properties we have on the market despite dropping the asking prices.
My colleague has realised that she forgot to retain c. £50k for legacies, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the monies paid to HMRC. She approached HMRC to see if she could get some of the instalment money back, to which they replied that they only have to do it at their discretion.
Does anyone know the precedents under which they will exercise their discretion in these circumstances?
Miriam Spero
Rubenstein Phillips Lewis Smith