There are more probate forms than most people expect, and a good deal of what is published about them online is out of date. Forms have been withdrawn, renamed and replaced, and some frequently cited in “complete list” articles do not exist at all. This guide lists the forms that are actually current, explains when each one is needed, and links to the official page on GOV.UK where you can download it. Every entry was checked against GOV.UK in September 2026. It applies to England and Wales.
Start with the two sections below. Most estates need one probate form and, increasingly, no inheritance tax form at all.
The two forms most people need
| Form | When you need it |
|---|---|
| PA1P | There is a will and you are applying by post. Produces a grant of probate. Note the page carries separate PDFs for personal applicants and for practitioners. |
| PA1A | There is no will and you are the closest entitled relative. Produces letters of administration. |
You may not need a paper form at all. Personal applicants can apply online, and GOV.UK is blunt about it: paper applications take longer, so apply online if you can. Solicitors and other practitioners must use MyHMCTS unless the case falls within a listed exemption, such as a second grant for the same estate, a foreign will, a copy-will application, rectification, or multiple applicants with equal entitlement.
Our step-by-step guides to form PA1P and form PA1A walk through the questions, and when probate is required covers whether you need a grant at all.
Do you need an inheritance tax form?
For most estates the answer is now no, and this is the single biggest change of recent years.
For deaths on or after 1 January 2022, if the estate qualifies as an excepted estate you do not complete any IHT form. You give three estate values on the probate application itself and declare that the estate is excepted. The Probate Registry passes the information to HMRC, which then has 60 days from the grant to raise enquiries.
Broadly, an estate is excepted if it is a low value estate, meaning the gross value does not exceed the nil rate band of £325,000, or up to £650,000 where a full transferable band is available; or an exempt estate, meaning the gross value does not exceed £3 million and the net chargeable value after only spouse and charity exemption does not exceed the nil rate band. Both have further limits on trust assets, foreign assets and lifetime gifts, and neither is available where there was a gift with reservation of benefit.
If the estate does not qualify, or there is tax to pay, you need the IHT400 and its schedules. Our guide to whether you need to complete an IHT400 sets out the test.
Inheritance tax: the main forms
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| IHT400 | The full inheritance tax account. Required where tax is due or the estate is not excepted. The Notes, Calculation, Rates and Tables and Helpsheet are all attachments on this same page rather than separate forms. |
| IHT422 | Applies for the inheritance tax reference number you need before you can pay. Allow three weeks. This one can be done online. |
| IHT423 | Direct Payment Scheme. Lets a bank or building society pay the tax straight to HMRC from the deceased’s own account before the grant is issued. Send one to each institution. |
| IHT30 | Asks HMRC to confirm the tax is settled and the file closed. Send it only when you are satisfied the figures are final, and before distributing. |
Our guide to completing the IHT400 covers the form in detail, and probate and inheritance tax gives the wider picture.
What happened to IHT421
Executors in England and Wales no longer use it. IHT421 was the probate summary, and a lot of published guidance still lists it as a required part of the application. It is now a Northern Ireland form only. In England and Wales, HMRC sends you a unique code once the account has been processed, usually within about 20 working days, and you quote that code on the probate application.
IHT400 schedules
You complete only the schedules relevant to the estate. Each links to its GOV.UK page.
| Form | Use it for |
|---|---|
| IHT401a | Claiming the deceased was not a long-term UK resident. For deaths on or after 6 April 2025. |
| IHT401 | Domicile outside the UK. For deaths before 6 April 2025, when domicile was still the test. |
| IHT402 | Claiming a predeceased spouse’s or civil partner’s unused nil rate band. |
| IHT403 | Gifts made on or after 18 March 1986, including the normal expenditure out of income exemption. |
| IHT404 | UK assets owned jointly with someone else. Jointly owned household goods go here, not on IHT407. |
| IHT405 | Houses, land, buildings and interests in land. |
| IHT406 | Solely owned bank and building society accounts, NS&I products and Premium Bonds. |
| IHT407 | Household and personal goods: furniture, jewellery, antiques, vehicles. |
| IHT408 | Goods that beneficiaries inherited and then donated to charity. Not for goods the will itself leaves to charity. |
| IHT409 | Any pension other than the State Pension, including unused drawdown funds and death benefits. |
| IHT410 | Life policies, annuities and investment bonds. |
| IHT411 | Quoted shares, gilts and unit trusts. |
| IHT412 | Private company shares, AIM holdings, and listed shares giving control of a company. |
| IHT413 | Business and partnership interests, and claims to Business Relief. |
| IHT414 | Agricultural Relief on farmland, farm buildings or farming company shares. |
| IHT415 | A legacy the deceased was owed from another estate but had not received. |
| IHT416 | Money others owed the deceased, including informal family loans. |
| IHT417 | Assets outside the UK. Use a separate form for each foreign will. |
| IHT418 | Where the deceased had a right to benefit from a trust, such as a life interest. |
| IHT419 | Loans, overdrafts and money spent on the deceased’s behalf. |
| IHT420 | Heritage property where conditional exemption is claimed. |
| IHT430 | Electing the 36% reduced rate where at least 10% of the baseline amount passes to charity. |
| IHT435 | Claiming the residence nil rate band where a home passes to direct descendants. Also covers downsizing. |
| IHT436 | Claiming a predeceased spouse’s unused residence nil rate band. Must go with an IHT435. |
| IHT437 | New in April 2026. Transfers a predeceased spouse’s unused agricultural or business relief allowance. |
Applying: the rest of the PA series
Stepping aside or letting someone else act
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| PA15 | Renounce your right to act as executor or administrator. Permanent once accepted, so take advice first. See our guide to the PA15 renunciation form. |
| PA16 | On intestacy, where a surviving spouse or civil partner steps aside so an adult child can administer instead. |
| PA17 | Renunciation by solicitors named as executor in their capacity within a firm. |
| PA11 | Power of attorney where there is a will: someone applies for the grant on the entitled person’s behalf. |
| PA12 | The same on intestacy. |
| PA14 | A doctor’s certificate confirming an entitled person lacks the capacity to apply, so someone else can. |
When something is wrong or missing
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| PA13 | Reports that the original will is lost, where you are applying with a copy. See requesting the original will from a solicitor, which explains why a lost will is not automatically an intestacy. |
| PA19 | Where the death happened abroad and the death certificate was translated by someone other than a licensed translation company. |
| PA18 | Practitioners only. Asks the registry in advance what evidence an unusual estate will need. |
Stopping a grant
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| PA8A | Enters a caveat, preventing a grant for six months. Used where you believe the will is invalid or the wrong person is applying. The fee is £4, and it can also be done online. |
| PA8B | Extends an existing caveat for a further six months. Must be sent before the current one expires. |
A caveat is a blunt instrument and can attract costs if used without grounds. If you only want to know when a grant issues, a standing search is usually the better tool. Where you want to challenge the will itself, see contesting a will. Contentious claims use the court’s N-series forms, principally N2 to issue a probate claim.
Copies, searches and wills in storage
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| PA1S | Orders a copy of a will or grant by post, for deaths in England and Wales from 1858. You can also search the records online. See how to get a copy of a will. |
| PA7A | Withdraws a will or codicil deposited with HMCTS for safekeeping. |
| PA7ENV | The printable envelope label for sending a will to HMCTS storage. Not an application form. |
Excepted estates and older deaths
| Form | Position |
|---|---|
| IHT207 | Still current. For an excepted estate where the deceased was not a long-term UK resident, or for earlier deaths was domiciled abroad, with limited UK assets. Frequently and wrongly described as withdrawn. |
| IHT205 | Deaths on or before 31 December 2021 only. The online service closed in March 2023, so it is paper only. |
| IHT217 | Historic. Not usable for deaths on or after 1 January 2022, and the claim now goes on the probate application. Be careful here: the GOV.UK page carries no withdrawal notice, so it looks current when it is not. |
| IHT216 | A late claim to transfer an unused nil rate band, made after the IHT400 has been submitted and the tax paid. |
Corrections and reclaiming tax after the grant
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| C4 | Corrective account. Tells HMRC the figures have changed after the IHT400 went in: a revised valuation, a missed asset, a newly discovered debt. |
| IHT35 | Reclaims tax where qualifying investments are sold at a loss within 12 months of death. You must list all qualifying sales, not just the losses. |
| IHT38 | Reclaims tax where land or buildings are sold at a loss within four years of death. |
| IOV2 | A checklist confirming a deed of variation meets the statutory conditions. |
Trusts and lifetime transfers
Trustees reporting a charge on a trust use a different set entirely. On 12 August 2024 the single IHT100 form was replaced by eight event-specific forms, so “IHT100” is now a guidance page rather than a form.
The suite is IHT100a (a gift into trust), IHT100b (a life interest ending in lifetime), IHT100b (death) (a life interest ending on death), IHT100c (an exit charge), IHT100d (the ten-year charge), IHT100e (special trusts), IHT100f (conditional exemption ending) and IHT100h (an 18-to-25 trust). The reference number comes from IHT122, and supplementary detail goes on the D-series schedules, D31 to D39.
Note the overlap: where a life interest ends because the beneficiary has died, executors use IHT418 with the IHT400, while trustees use IHT100b (death).
Forms that no longer exist
These still appear in published lists, and in PDFs mirrored on solicitor and funeral director websites. None of them should be used.
- PA2, PA3 and PA4. The guidance booklet, the fees leaflet and the registry directory. All retired; their URLs now redirect to the Applying for probate guide.
- PA1 without a suffix. This was the pre-2018 combined application, replaced by PA1P and PA1A.
- PA10 and PA20. These have never existed.
- IHT438. Does not exist. Lists that include it usually mean IHT437.
- IHT100g. Not part of the current suite, which runs a, b, b(death), c, d, e, f and h.
- Separate pages for IHT400 Notes, Calculation or Rates and Tables. These are attachments on the IHT400 page, not forms in their own right.
Forms that are easily confused
- IHT402, IHT216 and IHT217 all transfer an unused nil rate band. IHT402 goes with an IHT400; IHT216 is a late claim after settlement; IHT217 is historic.
- IHT435 and IHT436. 435 claims the deceased’s own residence nil rate band, 436 a predeceased spouse’s. IHT436 cannot be used on its own.
- IHT404 and IHT407. Jointly owned household goods go on IHT404.
- IHT35 and IHT38. Shares within 12 months, land within four years.
- IHT205 and IHT207. 205 is dead for deaths from 2022; 207 is live and deals with foreign estates.
Fees, deadlines and where to send things
The application fee is £526 where the estate exceeds £5,000, tested on the net estate, with no fee at or below that. Extra copies of the grant cost £2 each ordered with the application and £16 each afterwards. Help with fees is available through form EX160, though it does not cover the copies. Our guide to probate costs and fees covers the wider expense.
On timing, the IHT400 should be delivered within 12 months of the death and before you apply for probate, but the tax itself must be paid by the end of the sixth month after death or interest starts to run. That mismatch is why IHT423 exists. The late payment rate has moved several times recently, so check the current figure on GOV.UK rather than relying on a number quoted in an article.
Paper applications from personal applicants go to HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QE. Practitioners post to the Newcastle District Probate Registry. Caveats go to the Leeds District Probate Registry. Our guide to how long probate takes sets out the current published waiting times.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Neither uses the PA series. In Scotland the process is called confirmation, applied for on form C1 through the sheriff court. Northern Ireland has its own NIPF-series forms through nidirect, and is the one place IHT421 is still used. Where a grant issued abroad needs recognition here, see resealing a grant of probate.
Getting help
Most estates need one probate form and no tax form. Where an IHT400 is required, or the estate involves a business, a trust, foreign assets or a disputed will, the paperwork becomes substantially harder and mistakes carry penalties. Our probate checklist sets out the whole process, and you can book a free consultation through The Probate Network with a regulated advisor who can confirm which forms your estate actually needs.
Frequently asked questions
Which probate form do I need?
If there is a will, PA1P. If there is no will, PA1A. Personal applicants can usually apply online instead, which GOV.UK says is faster than paper. Solicitors and other practitioners must apply through MyHMCTS unless the case falls within one of the listed exemptions, such as a foreign will or a second grant for the same estate.
Do I still need to fill in an IHT205?
Only if the death was on or before 31 December 2021. For deaths from 1 January 2022, excepted estates report no IHT form at all: the values go on the probate application and the Registry passes them to HMRC. If the estate is not excepted, you need an IHT400 instead. The IHT205 online service closed in March 2023, so where it is still needed it must be completed on paper.
Do I need to send an IHT421 with my probate application?
Not in England and Wales. IHT421 is now a Northern Ireland form. Here, HMRC processes the IHT400 and sends you a unique code, usually within about 20 working days, which you quote on the probate application. Guidance telling you to post an IHT421 to HMRC and wait for it to be returned is out of date.
Can I do any of this online?
The probate application itself, a caveat, a search of the probate records and the IHT422 reference application can all be done online. The IHT400 and all its schedules, and the whole IHT100 trust suite, must still be printed and posted. They are fillable PDFs that need Adobe Reader and cannot reliably be part-saved in a browser.
How much does it cost to apply?
£526 where the estate exceeds £5,000, and nothing at or below that figure, tested on the net estate. Copies of the grant are £2 each with the application and £16 each afterwards, so it is much cheaper to order all the copies you are likely to need at the outset. A caveat costs £4.
Where do I send a paper application?
Personal applicants send PA1P or PA1A to HMCTS Probate, PO Box 12625, Harlow, CM20 9QE. Probate practitioners send paper applications to the Newcastle District Probate Registry. Caveats on form PA8A go to the Leeds District Probate Registry. Send anything containing an original will by a tracked or signed-for service.
This article is for general guidance only and applies to England and Wales. It does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. Forms, fees and thresholds change, and GOV.UK is the authoritative source, so always download the current version of a form rather than a copy hosted elsewhere. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified professional. You can book a free legal consultation through The Probate Network.
