Sale of shares from deceased estate

If shares are sold in the year following death at an overall loss, relief may be available by substituting the sale price of the sold shares for their death values, thus generating a repayment of inheritance tax.

The basic conditions for claiming the relief are:

• •the shares sold must be ‘qualifying investments’. This means:

  IHTA 1984, s 178(1)

• • ◦quoted shares and securities (including those quoted on a recognised foreign stock exchange). The shares must be quoted at the date of death
  • ◦unit trusts
  • ◦shares quoted on NASDAQ
  • ◦open ended investment companies (OEIC)
  • ◦Unlisted Securities Market (USM) shares (but not unquoted shar