Gifts over last 7 years

[Redhothoochycoocher]

My sweet Dad died 3 months ago. My DSis and I are executors and now need to report any gifts he made over the last 7 years. Can we have some help actually figuring this out please?

I've spoken to the probate lawyer who said we need to go through 7 years of his bank statements. So now I'm on the phone with his bank who will send 6 years of statements or 5 years of transaction history.

Am I missing something here? How are we meant to report on his gifts if we can't access the info?

Did he actually give you anything. I'm guessing it's to check it's not been trying to avoid inheritance tax.
I wouldnt worry about anything that won't be influencing this. Eg small amounts. Tbh I don't remember being asked this but then I definitely wasn't gifted anything eg money, property or car etc.

He gifted me and my sister some money over the last 7 years and possibly someone else but assumed we'd need to pour over his statements to check this rather than guessing? If it's not a huge deal then I'd obviously rather not have to spend the time doing it tbh!

Surely you and your sister can check your own statements for any gifts he made to you? Then you would just be looking at the statements you have of your Dad’s for any unusual payees or amounts. And ask anyone that you think may have had gifts from him as well.

Sorry for your loss 💐

What did you do in the end? I’m in same boat now x

It seems like such an onerous task. You’d think HMRC would have some way of checking or sifting through the bank accounts themselves.

unless iht is due then just ignore it or put less than £3k per year

Do hmrc not check? I am nc with dsis she is the executor of dm will and I know she has had tens of thousands off dm over the years can she just lie about it.

Might check, might not. In theory the dead person is supposed to have kept records. Is he likely tho to have gifted £ to people you don't know? It's a ridiculous requirement! Only you can say if it's likely and worth checking but I put down all the gifts to family I could trace.

If the banks don’t have the records, then I can’t see how HMRC would find out either. So I would work on the basis of best endeavours - if you know about it, declare it. If not, assume there wasn’t a gift. You can’t declare what you don’t know about. You’ve done your best to find out.

Gifts from surplus income (rather than eg from savings) are exempt. So are gifts totalling under £3k per year. So you shouldn’t need to look for tiny amounts.

As a pp said, can you search your own bank statements, either via the app or a download you put into excel? I have had Monzo for years so just checked and I can see all payments from my parents bank account since 2018 in a search which took me less than a minute.

Only regular gifts from surplus income are excluded. Not one-offs. Important distinction.

And they need to be documented as such at the time and records kept

there is also a list of exemptions amounts for family weddings etc

Its appalling that the banks cant just produce a yearly report or payments made with your interest summaries. Amount paid to D Smith £abc. Amount to E Smith £def.

With my bank you can put in search terms like this, & dates. I'm not sure how far back it goes, though.
Yes, payments out of income have to be regular & documented as such.

They might check if it looks suspicious or just randomly, is the amount left actually more than the allowance is the first question and then how long ago were the gifts made, if more than 7 years no problem, if less then there is a taper allowance as well. The tax will come out of the estate if anything is due, dsis won't have to pay it herself. If you think she has lied on the probate forms it's quite serious, you could query it, look up contesting probate, you probably need a lawyer. If you think something dishonest has been done you could report it to HMRC.

@dogcatkittendm hasn’t passed away yet so I was just curious if they checked as I can’t see dsis being honest and she is the only executor. I will probably raise my concerns with hmrc when the time comes as the reason we are nc in the first place is regarding her spending of dm money

@Spendysis You don't have to wait. If your sister has PoA, you can report your concerns to the OPG.

@unsyncit has already been investigated by OPG and ss dm was deemed as having capacity to consent at the time

Info about gifts here

https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax