REDUCED IHT 200 FORMAs was promised in the Capital Taxes Office (CTO) August newsletter, the Inland Revenue has introduced form IHT 19 which sets out all the circumstances in which it is possible to submit a reduced IHT 200.

This is designed for those cases where an estate does not qualify as an excepted estate but the bulk of the estate is passing to exempt beneficiaries.You will need to check the detail of IHT 19 but, broadly speaking, in order to qualify (1) the deceased must have been UK domiciled ( 2) most of the assets passing by will or on intestacy must be going to exempt beneficiaries, that is to say spouses or charities (3) the gross value of the non-exempt death estate plus any other assets chargeable on death (for example, jointly held assets passing by survivorship to someone other than a spouse, or gifts with the reservation of benefit (GROBs)) plus the chargeable value of lifetime gifts made within seven years of death must not exceed the nil rate band.If those conditions are fulfilled many of the supplementary pages of IHT 200 need not be completed.

However, the Worksheet (WS) and summaries and D18 must always be completed.

Where an asset is passing to an exempt beneficiary, you can give your own estimate of open market value instead of having to get a formal valuation.

However, you should not give nominal values in any circumstances.If, having submitted a reduced IHT 200, you then subsequently discover that you should have submitted a full one, you must fill up any of the supplementary pages that are relevant and send them to the CTO with a Corrective Account containing the open market value of the relevant assets.If a beneficiary executes an instrument of variation with election as a result of which previously exempt assets are redirected to non-exempt beneficiaries, you must fill in any supplementary pages that apply to the redirected assets.

If you gave an estimated value for any of the assets, you must send a Corrective Account containing the open market value of the relevant assets.D18 AND SPEEDING UP THE ISSUE OF THE GRANTYou can send the D18 direct to the Probate Registry when the reduced IHT 200 is used, which should then speed up the process of obtaining the grant.

Another possible way of speeding up the issue of the grant is to request that the CTO return the D18 to the relevant Probate Registry rather than returning it back to you.Speeding up the issue of the grant is always useful but it is particularly valuable where you have taken out a loan to cover the IHT due on delivery of the IHT 200.

By saving a couple of days you will reduce the amount of interest payable on the loan.CONTENTIOUS PROBATEThe 18th update to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) and the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 4 Rules) 2000 SI 00/2092 took effect as from 2 October 2000.

One of the most important changes for probate practitioners is an amendment to r.24.3.

This means that it will now be possible to apply for summary judgement in contentious probate proceedings.

Up until 2 October this was not possible and a full application had to be made.