A candle burns next to a bunch lilies to signify bereavement

Contacting HMRC for help with deceased estates

10 March, 2026

Following one of our regular meetings with HMRC about trust and estate matters, the following updates about contacting HMRC in connection with bereavement matters may be helpful. 

Calling HMRC 

Further to the changes to the bereavement line announced last year, HMRC has now merged the phone line for complex estates into the helpline for informal estates. This means there is one single number to call for any deceased estate: the bereavement helpline 0300 322 9620. 

HMRC’s guidance confirms that this helpline should be used for any queries relating to the income tax or capital gains tax for a deceased estate, including periods both up to the date of death and afterwards.

This line does not have speech recognition and the caller will be asked to select the appropriate reason for their call from a list of options. 

Agents are asked to use the bereavement helpline in preference to the Agent Dedicated Line (ADL) for bereavement cases. An agent calling the ADL in respect of a deceased client will be diverted to the bereavement line, and will need to go through HMRC’s security checks twice.

HMRC is also asking agents to wait 12 weeks before chasing a response to any correspondence relating to a bereavement case. If the matter has not been addressed after 12 weeks, please ring the bereavement line and HMRC’s advisers will aim to deal with the matter in a ‘once and done’ approach by working on the matter immediately after the call.

Writing to HMRC

Use of covering letters 

Agents commonly submit covering letters with forms such as the P1000, IHT400, IHT100 etc. HMRC have asked that if a covering letter is considered necessary, wherever possible it is placed behind any forms. 

All of HMRC’s incoming post is scanned and allocated automatically to the relevant work queue. The systems are set up to recognise IHT forms and will place the form in the relevant queue.

The system can also recognise key words in cover letters, but where the letter contains a number of words that the system identifies as key, the scanning system has to then prioritise which is the most important and that can result in allocation of the post to the wrong queue. 

We appreciate that this might create some practical issues when sending out post, but the benefit of placing the form on top is that it should end up in the right place within HMRC first time. 

Postal address 

As set out in February’s Trust and Estate newsletter, there is now a dedicated postal address for HMRC’s bereavement services.

This address should be used for the majority of correspondence relating to bereavement matters, including:

  • providing notifications of death
  • informal administration period queries
  • sending supporting documents

Only formal tax returns for the administration period should go to HMRC’s BX9 1AS postcode.

Using the wrong address will lead to delays, as the post will end up in the wrong work queue. 

Webchat 

In addition to the phoneline, HMRC offers a webchat service for bereavement matters between 9am and 4pm on week days. 

 

If members have any comments or concerns about HMRC’s bereavement services, please let us know on [email protected]. 

This article reflects the position at the date of publication shown above. If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed.