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The value of being prepared

5 November 2026

Six months on from the commencement of the new Inheritance Tax Regime, the jury is out on its full implications. However, one thing is clear: the better prepared an estate or farming business is, the easier it will be to navigate future tax and valuation challenges.

We are now two years on from the Autumn 2024 Budget, which reshaped the Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) landscape, and nearly six months into the new tax regime.

While the adjustments announced in December 2025 softened some of the impact for smaller businesses, the overall direction of travel remains challenging for businesses, farms, estates and rural landowners. Understandably, much of the discussion before and since has focused on tax liabilities and succession planning, but the practical implications have received less attention.

We do not yet know what the increase in potentially taxable estates will mean for HMRC processing times, nor how District Valuer Services will cope with an increased workload, as it is simply too early to tell.  Probate and valuation timescales may lengthen, but at this stage that remains speculation rather than fact.

Regardless of what happens inside HMRC, it’s certainly the case that preparation, good records and robust valuation evidence have the potential to make a significant difference to the amount of tax paid. There are practical steps that landowners, farmers and estate managers can take now which may make a significant difference in the future.

A race against the clock

One of the most important considerations is timing.

There is a rigid 6-month timescale from the date of death to submitting the IHT returns and paying an estimate of the tax due. In that time, property valuations will need to be undertaken and completed, investments and pensions need to be located and quantified, and the cash to pay the first instalment found if it is not immediately available. That means having the information needed to produce robust valuations as efficiently as possible is becoming increasingly important.

It comes as a surprise to many, but it’s not necessarily obvious exactly what needs to be valued. Delays can arise when time has to be spent establishing exactly what assets exist, who owns them, and in what shares.

Questions that appear straightforward can quickly become complicated. Is a particular asset owned personally or by a partnership? Where ownership is shared, what proportions are held by each party? If gifts have been made, when was the gift, were valuations undertaken at the time and were they the right valuations? As an example, if a cottage has been gifted away from a wider farm, it’s not necessarily just the value of the cottage that is required. Did the gift reduce the value of what remains by a greater amount than just the value of the cottage itself?

These issues are rarely exciting, but they can have a significant impact on both timescales and outcomes.

The importance of good records

First and most importantly (for IHT valuation and a host of other reasons), if you have lost your partnership agreement, find it now or take advice if it is genuinely lost. After that, property records are often the starting point.

Where land is registered, title plans provide a useful framework for understanding a holding. Where land remains unregistered, it is important to know what records and plans exist and where they can be found.

Likewise, Rural Land Register data and parcel mapping downloaded through an SBI can be an excellent tool and can save considerable time. However, it rarely tells the whole story.

Supporting documentation can be equally important. Restrictive covenants, overage agreements, sporting let agreements, tenancy agreements and rent schedules are all needed. Agreement terms matter: is a lease contracted out of the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954? When did that residential tenant move in – do they have an Assured Periodic Tenancy or a Rent Act Tenancy? The easier these documents are to locate, the easier it becomes to complete a robust valuation.

Assets that suddenly matter

The reforms have also brought greater attention to assets that may previously have received less scrutiny.

Livestock, machinery, crops and other trading assets can have a meaningful impact on an estate valuation. Establishing exactly what existed at a particular point in time will become increasingly important. Questions such as whether lambs or calves had been born, whether machinery had already been sold, or whether grain remained in storage can all affect the final valuation position.

The challenge, of course, is that these details can be difficult to reconstruct after the event.

Why contemporaneous evidence matters

This is another point that is not always obvious: if assets are changing, then a record taken as close in time as possible can be extremely important. Perhaps a farmhouse extension is underway, a new grain store is being constructed, or a building is being converted for an alternative use. In these circumstances, a valuation inspection may not take place until the property has already altered.

Simple measures such as keeping dated photographs can therefore be extremely valuable. They provide contemporaneous evidence of the property’s condition and extent at the relevant date and can help support future discussions with HMRC or the District Valuer.

Planning ahead for lifetime transfers

The same principles apply to lifetime tax planning.

Property transfers are often undertaken to achieve succession, inheritance tax or wider business objectives. However, obtaining the necessary valuation evidence is rarely an overnight exercise.

Instructions need to be provided, information gathered, site visits arranged and reports prepared. Advisers then need time to review findings, raise questions and assess options before decisions can be made. Building adequate time into the process is therefore essential.

Accuracy pays

Discussions around “fracturing value” attracted considerable attention during 2025 and remain relevant today. Achieving desired outcomes often requires valuers, accountants and legal advisers to work closely together from an early stage. Equally, care should be taken to avoid unintended consequences, particularly where borrowing or secured lending is involved.

Ultimately, accuracy matters because it affects the bottom line.

There is often understandable pressure to keep professional costs as low as possible, but that is often a false economy. There are cases where a desktop valuation will be appropriate. However, an inspection may identify repair issues or other factors that materially reduce value and will create an independent evidence record should those values be challenged. The resulting tax saving can be far greater than the additional cost of obtaining a detailed inspection and fully evidenced valuation.

Looking ahead

I write this in the depressing period of Autumn Budget rumours and the race to complete transactions in time to secure the current reliefs, so I will avoid the temptation to speculate and create an article that is immediately obsolete.

Regardless of what comes this autumn, good records, accessible documentation, robust evidence and early professional advice will not eliminate tax liabilities, but they can reduce uncertainty, speed up the valuation process and help families and businesses make informed decisions when important events occur.

There is also an important human consideration. When a valuation is required following a bereavement, families may find themselves gathering information and making decisions under considerable time pressure at what is already a difficult and emotional period. The more organised a business, farm or estate is beforehand, the less burden there is on those left to deal with the practicalities.

In an increasingly complex tax environment, being organised may prove to be one of the most valuable investments a landowner can make.