How the answer sheet is put together
HMRC's notes C3 (2006) (2022) set the rules: list every item of the estate, even those that can be collected without confirmation, under the headings at the top of page 3, number the items, and carry a total from page to page. Quoted shares are valued one quarter up from the lower to the higher quote, bank accounts show capital and interest separately, and a standard security is deducted from the house in the inventory and added back on page 4.
The page does the sums and the order. You still copy the answers onto the official form C1 (2022), and fill in pages 1, 2, 4 and 5 yourself.
Example: Margaret Lindsay died in Perth owning a house with a standard security, two bank accounts, shares, a flat in Carlisle and an apartment in Spain. Her 1,250 Glenmorrie Distillers shares, quoted 1,598-1,612p, are valued at 1,601.5p, so £20,018.75. The total for confirmation in box 9 is £369,755.61 and the net value in box 15 is £362,512.11. Open the example.
Questions executors ask
In what order do the items go on the C1 inventory?
Page 3 of form C1 (2022) says: Estate in Scotland (heritable property first), Estate in England and Wales, Estate in Northern Ireland, Summary for confirmation, Estate elsewhere (say in which country). The items are numbered 1, 2, 3 straight through, and each page ends with a carried forward total. This page sorts your items into that order however you type them.
How do I value shares for confirmation?
HMRC's notes (C3, page 10) take quoted shares at one quarter up from the lower to the higher price quoted: for a quotation of 98-108 the price is 98p plus 2.5p, so 100.5p. You can instead take halfway between the highest and lowest bargains of the day. For unit trusts, investment trusts and OEICs with two prices, take the lower. Use the prices for the date of death (in a newspaper, the edition published the next day). For a death on a day the Stock Exchange was closed, such as a Sunday, take the next day it was open or the last day before, whichever gives the lower value. Type the quotes and the holding, and the page works out the price and the value to the penny.
How do I show a bank account?
List each account separately, with separate figures for capital and interest (C3, page 11). Ask the bank for the balance and the interest to the date of death. The answer sheet shows the capital on the item line and the interest on the line below it.
What if there is a mortgage over the house?
For heritable property with a standard security, the notes ask you to name the creditor, say when the debt was incurred and give its amount, and to show only the net value in the £ column. The debt is then added back for the gross value in box 11 and deducted in box 13. The page does both.
What goes in boxes 9 and 11 to 15?
Box 9, and the amount in paragraph 6 of the declaration, is the total for confirmation: the estate in Scotland, England and Wales and Northern Ireland, not the estate elsewhere. Box 11 is that total with any secured debt deducted in the inventory added back. Boxes 12 to 14 are funeral expenses, standard securities or mortgages, and other debts owed at death. Box 15 is box 11 minus boxes 12, 13 and 14.
Is it a small estate?
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service treats an estate of £36,000 or less as a small estate, counting everything before debts and bank balances with interest to the date of death (HMRC's notes say less than £36,000, so ask the sheriff clerk if it is exactly £36,000). The sheriff clerk can then help fill in the form, and since 4 March 2016 no bond of caution is needed when the sheriff clerk helps. The page shows the gross figure to check against the limit.
Is the estate an excepted estate?
This page does not decide that. HMRC's notes (pages 14 to 16) explain it: the gross value for Inheritance Tax adds joint property passing by survivorship, nominated property, trust property and gifts made in the 7 years before death to the value for confirmation, and the excepted estate limit is normally the nil rate band, £325,000 in the notes. Read them before you answer boxes 16 to 26.
Do I need continuation sheets?
When the items do not fit on page 3, carry on on continuation sheets C2, numbered C2/1, C2/2 and so on, each starting with the brought forward total. The answer sheet splits the items the same way, and paragraph 5 of the declaration asks for the number of the last page. If your writing is larger or smaller, change the lines per page.
Can I send this printout instead of the form?
No. It is an answer sheet to copy from. Fill in the official C1 (2022) from GOV.UK, which you can type into but not save part done, and send it to the sheriff clerk. The sheriff clerk has the last word on how the inventory is set out.
Where are my figures kept?
Only in this browser on this device, saved as you type. Download a backup file now and then: it opens on another computer, or here if the browser's data is ever cleared.
Sources: HMRC form C1 (2022) and continuation form C2 and notes C3 (2006) (2022); Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, small estates; The Confirmation to Small Estates (Scotland) Order 2011. The people and companies in the example are made up. This is not the form: copy the answers onto HMRC's form, and the sheriff clerk has the last word on layout. It is a bookkeeping tool, not legal or tax advice.