Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the (a) adequacy of the time taken by HMRC to process inheritance tax queries and (b) potential impact of the time taken on the ability of executors to settle estates without incurring interest charges.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is consistently exceeding its service standards of processing over 80% of inheritance tax returns for estates within 15 working days. Once these returns have been processed, most customers will be able to pay any inheritance tax due on time and proceed to apply for probate.

The inheritance tax helpline is also meeting HMRC’s telephony service levels by handling over 85% of customer calls to advisers.

HMRC has recently increased numbers deployed to wider inheritance tax work to ensure we meet or exceed those service standards.

Inheritance tax on estates must be paid six months from the end of the month in which the death occurred, although customers can make payments on account if the final Inheritance Tax liability is not yet agreed, to reduce or avoid interest.

Late payment interest is charged whenever tax is paid late.

If an error or delay by HMRC has contributed to the late payment, customers may appeal the late payment interest.

The government announced at Autumn Budget 2024 that it is investing in digitalising the inheritance tax service from 2027-28 to provide a modern, easy-to-use system, making returns and paying tax simpler and quicker.