Probate fees rise 75% on 13 July. The change is only days away, so it is the story to act on first. Any client part-way through an estate application needs to know the cost is going up. Next comes the mileage rate, which has jumped to 55p for the first time in fifteen years. It is backdated to 6 April, so employers still paying 45p are already short.
The other two can wait a little. MTD for Income Tax registration is running behind ahead of the 7 August deadline, and HMRC has admitted a state pension error affecting 3.1 million taxpayers.
Here is the detail.
Probate Fees Jump 75% from 13 July as Estate Costs Climb
From 13 July 2026, the fee to apply for probate rises from £300 to £526, a 75% increase, subject to final parliamentary approval. The Ministry of Justice has framed the rise as covering inflation and funding modernisation of the service.
It arrives alongside a raft of other minor fee increases, with property court fees the only other area seeing significant hikes. That matters for practitioners who also handle property-related legal matters for clients.
There is one movement in the opposite direction. The fee for additional copies of probate documents, which executors often need when several assets are being dealt with at once, drops sharply from £16 to £2 to better reflect the administrative cost.
Key facts:
- Application fee rises from £300 to £526 from 13 July 2026
- Additional copy fee falls from £16 to £2
- The Help with Fees remission scheme remains available, intended to ensure fair access to justice for executors facing hardship
The rise comes just before a bigger change. From April 2027, unused pension pots will be caught by 40% inheritance tax, and the strict six-month payment window is not being relaxed. So the advice splits in two. Clients handling estates now should budget for the higher fee. Clients planning ahead should start the pension conversation early.
Approved Mileage Rate Rises to 55p for the First Time Since 2011
The approved mileage allowance payment for the first 10,000 business miles in a personal car or van has risen from 45p to 55p. It is the first change to the rate in fifteen years, and it is backdated to 6 April 2026, so any employer still reimbursing below the new tax-free maximum has been doing so since the start of the tax year.
Employers are not obliged to pay the full 55p. Where they pay less, the employee can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the shortfall, which is worth having ready as an answer when clients ask what the gap means for their staff.
Key facts:
- First 10,000 miles: 55p per mile; above 10,000 miles unchanged at 25p
- Motorcycle (24p) and bicycle (20p) rates unchanged, as is the 5p passenger payment, which applies only when carrying a fellow employee on a qualifying business trip
- A 1,000-mile shortfall at the old 45p rate gives a basic-rate taxpayer around £20 in relief
Payroll and expenses systems need updating to the new rate. Employers who previously paid above the old 45p rate and treated the excess as taxable should review payroll to check whether that excess is now covered by the 55p limit. Self-employed clients using the simplified expenses method can apply the same 55p and 25p rates for 2026/27.
HMRC Chases Late MTD Registrations as the 7 August Deadline Nears
The real problem is not the deadline. It is what happens if a client registers too late. The year-end declaration pulls together data from all four quarters. So a taxpayer who leaves it too long can end up filing as many as nine returns in a single twelve-month period. That is the point worth making to any client who thinks 7 August is a date they can drift past.
The first mandatory quarterly deadline is 7 August 2026, covering quarter one, which ran from 6 April to 5 July 2026. That data is already finalised and ready to submit now. The deadline applies to roughly 900,000 sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000.
Registration is running well short. Only around 400,000 have signed up, which leaves close to half a million still to register, even after a recent peak of 4,000 sign-ups in a single day.
Key facts:
- Around 400,000 of roughly 900,000 in scope have registered
- HMRC is waiving penalties for the first year of operation
- The threshold drops to £20,000 in 2028, eventually bringing in 2.9 million taxpayers
Exemptions offer little escape. HMRC has refused more than half of the claims made, and accountants should warn clients that the grounds are limited and hard to meet. Returns must be filed digitally, so any client not already on compatible software will need it, whether bridging software or a free option from their bank or provider.
Any client above the £50,000 threshold who has not yet registered should be contacted this week. The penalty waiver softens year one, but it does nothing to remove the filing backlog that late registration creates.
HMRC Admits State Pension Error Hitting 3.1 Million Taxpayers
HMRC has apologised for a historical error in which incorrect taxable state pension figures were used in 2024-25 tax calculations. The wrong figures fed into PAYE reconciliations, Self-Assessment pre-population, and Simple Assessment, affecting around 3.1 million people in total.
The scale of the error is far larger than its cost to any individual. The discrepancy averages between £1.76 and £2.30 for any one tax year since 2021-22, which marks this as a multi-year systemic issue rather than a glitch confined to 2024-25. HMRC has said many cases fall within standard administrative tolerances, meaning they may not produce any actual change to the tax due.
Key facts:
- 3.1 million affected in total: 1.4 million under PAYE, 955,000 in Self-Assessment, 760,000 under Simple Assessment
- Average discrepancy of £1.76 to £2.30 for any one tax year since 2021-22
- Most cases fall within HMRC administrative tolerances, so no change to tax due
- An internal audit is under way to establish the causes and stop it recurring
For most clients this is reassurance rather than action. The likely task is answering questions calmly and setting expectations that, for the majority, no repayment will follow.
Conclusion
The pattern this week is cost and compliance tightening on several fronts, with one admitted slip. Probate is dearer, the mileage rate has moved after fifteen years, and the MTD net is still closing around late filers. The state pension error is a reminder that HMRC’s own systems are not immune.
For most practices the immediate work is narrow. Flag the probate rise before 13 July, update mileage rates in payroll now, and check any unregistered client against the 7 August MTD deadline. The pensioner error is one to watch and explain, not chase.
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