Receiving a tax refund on a deceased estate - who gets it

[wiggydiggy]

Question for my solicitor tomorrow but in the meantime....

I've received a tax refund cheque made to me for an estate I am the executor for, I am not a beneficiary in the estate. Do I need to declare this now to the sols, and pay it to the named beneficeries?

The estate is nearly settled BTW Just doing some tidying up work now and this was unexpected.

 

[vickster]

Question for my solicitor tomorrow but in the meantime....

I've received a tax refund cheque made to me for an estate I am the executor for, I am not a beneficiary in the estate. Do I need to declare this now to the sols, and pay it to the named beneficeries?

The estate is nearly settled BTW Just doing some tidying up work now and this was unexpected.

Yes ask the solicitors, presumably it is now part of the estate if a refund on tax paid by the deceased

 

[wiggydiggy]

Yes ask the solicitors, presumably it is now part of the estate if a refund on tax paid by the deceased

That's my assumption yeah, I can pay the cheque directly into my bank account via the bank app if so and transfer it.

By coincidence she (my mum) also received a tax refund though that is definitely in her name.

I did not receive any refund myself though 😭

 

[I like Skol]

Not sure I understand your question.

I would think it is perfectly clear and there can be no doubt that morally the money belongs to the estate of the deceased and must be accounted for. Legally I suspect the same applies.

However, maybe that is not what you are asking and you want to know if you can legally, or otherwise, keep the refund for yourself without telling anyone you are doing so?

 

[I like Skol]

Do I need to declare this now to the sols, and pay it to the named beneficeries?

Not in the slightest and I couldn't be clearer.

Sorry, but it did sound as though you might consider NOT declaring it to sols and NOT paying it to the beneficiaries?

Please don't try to make me out as some sort of finger pointing witch burner, I'm just trying to clarify your vague or evasive question.

 

[vickster]

What did the solicitors say?

 

[wiggydiggy]

Not spoke to them yet, they are on my 'mums to do list' for the day.

Apolgies to @I like Skol I was a bit prickly/childish earlier and have deleted my posts. Few things going on I shouldn't take out on random internet strangers.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Sols confirmed as I thought all goes to Mum

 

[I like Skol]

Similar thing with my dad's estate after he died around 18 months ago (mum died over a decade ago).

Things have only just been finalised in the last month and in the final accounts/summary I noticed a refund from the inland revenue that was paid to my brother who lived closest to dad and had the most direct dealings with winding up the estate/solicitors/etc as he was there and was also taking over the house.

This was recorded as such and an adjustment made in the final distribution of any monies paid to the beneficiaries to reflect the amount from the IR.

In the long run I suppose it doesn't matter who the payments are made to in the first instance as long as it is transferred to the appropriate persons and this is recorded somewhere (either by the solicitors or executor of the will) to show that everything is correct and 'above board'?

 

[gbb]

Well this post (probably) clarifies a mystery tax refund I just received...and I didn't know why I got it ?
Mum passed earlier this year and as I've been the one making all the arrangements and notifications, I now think this is a refund on mums taxes.
My mum and wife's names begin with D so when I saw Mr C and Mrs D...I assumed it was related to me and my wife. Its almost certainly not then, its me and mum.

 

[fossyant]

MrsF still has hold of an amount of money from her Mum, which is yet to be distributed. It's there for final estate costs (MIL died 18 months ago), although most is now sorted, there are still a few incidentals coming through.

 

[Emanresu]

This may sound odd but I have to hand it to whoever in the Civil Service/Government came up with the idea of "Tell us Once". When you're dealing with a lot of stuff plus the grief of your loss, this government page is a great help. Now if they could only sort out the rest of "digital government" life could be (should have been) easier.

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

 

[wiggydiggy]

The HMRC wrote to me on Saturday to say the refund was coming and the cheque would be received within 2 weeks. Except I got the cheque over a week ago and it's already been cashed and transferred to my mum. Who needs effiency lol!

This may sound odd but I have to hand it to whoever in the Civil Service/Government came up with the idea of "Tell us Once". When you're dealing with a lot of stuff plus the grief of your loss, this government page is a great help. Now if they could only sort out the rest of "digital government" life could be (should have been) easier.

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

That service was amazing, my dad had various benefits and services to deal with and the list of things they did was huge. I have to say for the most part Gov.uk website is amazing and you can do loads on it. The main one was actually the local and county councils as they have so many little services scattered around we use but don't think of. Larger organisations like HMRC are actually easier to deal with I found.

Registering the death (at the Registrar) was also fairly painless, the registrar did tell us anecdotally a lot of folks walk in with a carrier bag full of paper about bank accounts etc and think the registrar will do everything. It doesn't work like that, you register the death and then deal with it all yourself. It is a lot to do so I'd recommend reaching out to some local charities (I did and now support them) as they have bereavement teams that can help.

 

[gbb]

I found the same with the Registry Office, very good,clean cut service just when you don't need complications.. Must admit, I initially thought the'tell us once' service had a much wider scope but that was quickly explained...and accepted by me. I found almost without exception, banks, building societies, local services have all been very good.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I found the same with the Registry Office, very good,clean cut service just when you don't need complications.. Must admit, I initially thought the'tell us once' service had a much wider scope but that was quickly explained...and accepted by me. I found almost without exception, banks, building societies, local services have all been very good.

Registry were great, I think it was only the day after he passed and we went and registered it. We just wanted to start to get the practical aspects started as soon as so we could focus on ourselves.

Santander Bank actually sent my mum a big bunch of flowers, and some money, after spelling my dad's name wrong and not fixing it first time. They've been great since onother things too.

Contrast to that SAGA, who really should be better at dealing with old people's matters, were absolute bobbins at sorting some things out and refused to admit anything was wrong.

On the whole I won't say I enjoyed dealing with the practicalities of him going, but it was a good distraction and something to focus on. Though I know many other people may feel the opposite.