Draft Non-Contentious Probate (Fees) Order 2018

Michael Tomlinson Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2019 General Committees

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. Before I raise a number of questions with the Minister, may I say something positive? I am grateful to her for listening. In the previous iteration, she and I had exchanges about concerns regarding the level of fees, and I agree with her assessment that £6,000 is more proportionate than the original proposal of £20,000. I also welcome the fact that the very smallest estates will be taken out of paying any fee whatsoever, and that even for those estates of between £50,000 and £300,000 it is only a very modest increase indeed.

I welcome those parts of the regulations, but I would be grateful if the Minister could answer a series of questions that have been raised with me, which echo points that she made in her opening speech. First, I would like her to address head-on the criticism that this is simply an additional tax imposed for a simple clerical process and that the existing fees already cover the cost of that process. There has been a suggestion, as she herself has said, that these fees will help reduce other court costs, but concerns have been raised with me that they will simply go back to the Treasury as general taxation, rather than being what we might call a hypothecated tax that would assist in the other areas she has mentioned. I would be grateful if she would address that point.

Secondly, does the Minister agree that this would effectively be double taxation—taxation on the estate in the first place, and taxation in the form of this additional probate fee? Has she considered that this may lead to complicated avoidance schemes for those with the means to pay, who will simply seek to avoid paying the fee in the first place? I would be grateful for her thoughts on that. Finally, could she address head-on the concern that has been raised with me that the fee is effectively double taxation? Has she considered linking the fee to the net value of the estates? I would be grateful if she addressed those points.