nobody

After getting confirmation from both HMRC and HMCTS, I did find this page on Gov site which does confirm that if estate is excepted, the claim to transfer unused NRB from deceased spouse is covered by Probate application and no additional forms required. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transferring-unused-basic-threshold-for-inheritance-tax - Scroll down to section titled "Where full details are not needed — excepted estates" - if you don't have the full NRB to transfer, it no longer counts as excepted and so then you do use IHT402 and IHT400.

After getting confirmation from both HMRC and HMCTS, I did find this page on Gov site which does confirm that if estate is excepted, the claim to transfer unused NRB from deceased spouse is covered by Probate application and no additional forms required. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transferring-unused-basic-threshold-for-inheritance-tax - Scroll down to section titled "Where full details are not needed — excepted estates" - if you don't have the full NRB to transfer, it no longer counts as excepted and so then you do use IHT402 and IHT400.

I'm dealing with the same scenario currently and today called HMRC IHT helpline and was told categorically that I do not need to submit IHT402 or IHT400 as it counts as an exempt estate. I challenged this as the notes for IHT400, while not very clear, do seem to define exempt estate for low value estate as being either below individual threshold (£325k) or double that (£650k) if transferring an unused spouse's and also refer to needing to submit IHT402 and reduced IHT400. I then called Probate (HMCTS) and they also assured me that I dont need to fill in IHT402 (and IHT400) as I've declared on Probate that am claiming spouse's unused allowance (and the estate thus comes under £650k limit). I asked again to be sure and again was assured I dont need to do form IHT402.

I'm dealing with the same scenario currently and today called HMRC IHT helpline and was told categorically that I do not need to submit IHT402 or IHT400 as it counts as an exempt estate. I challenged this as the notes for IHT400, while not very clear, do seem to define exempt estate for low value estate as being either below individual threshold (£325k) or double that (£650k) if transferring an unused spouse's. I'm now very worried I've just been misinformed.