Final Executor Accounts: What They Must Contain UK 2026

What must executor final accounts contain?

1Executor accounts are a financial record of how the estate was administered — they are not submitted to HMRC or the Probate Registry, but beneficiaries can demand them.
2Final accounts must show: all assets at date of death, all income during administration, all expenses and debts paid, all IHT paid, and all distributions to beneficiaries.
3There is no prescribed legal format — but accounts should follow a clear, logical structure that a non-professional can follow.
4It is common practice to ask each beneficiary to sign the accounts as approved before closing the estate, though nothing in statute requires it.
5GOV.UK says HMRC can ask to see your estate records up to 20 years after inheritance tax is paid, so keep them for at least that long.

Final executor accounts are the bookkeeping record of everything that happened to the estate from the date of death to the final distribution. They demonstrate that you have discharged your duties properly and protect you from later claims by beneficiaries. This guide explains what the accounts must contain and provides a template structure. For the distribution process, see our guide to distributing cash to beneficiaries.

Who Can See the Executor Accounts?

GOV.UK's guidance on the records personal representatives must keep says the final accounts should be shared with all the beneficiaries, and should include evidence that debts were paid, receipts for expenses, and written confirmation of what each beneficiary received.

No statute sets out who can compel an account: an executor's duty to account comes from case law, and the entitlement is strongest for residuary beneficiaries, who take whatever is left and therefore have an interest in every figure. Someone left a fixed cash legacy has a narrower interest — in whether their own legacy has been paid — rather than in the whole estate. If an executor will not account at all, a beneficiary's route is an application to the court.

Unlike company accounts or charity accounts, estate accounts are not submitted to any public registry. They are a private document between the executor and the beneficiaries.

Structure of Executor Final Accounts

There is no single prescribed format, but good practice follows a clear structure. The accounts typically comprise:

Cover sheet: Title ("Estate of [Name] (deceased)"), date of death, names of executors, date the accounts were prepared.
Capital account (schedule of assets and liabilities): All assets at their date-of-death probate values, all liabilities, and the net estate value.
Estate income account: All income received during administration (bank interest, dividends, rental income) with the income tax paid.
Expenses and payments: Itemised list of all payments from the estate — funeral expenses, administration costs, IHT paid, debts settled, executor expenses.
Distribution account: How the net estate was distributed — specific legacies paid, residue split among beneficiaries.
Estate bank account reconciliation: Statement of the estate account showing all receipts and payments, reconciling to nil on closure.

The Capital Account: Assets and Liabilities

Section	What to Include
Assets	Property (probate value), bank accounts, ISAs, investments (quarter-up value), pensions (if in estate), life insurance (if in estate), personal possessions, vehicles, money owed to deceased
Liabilities	Mortgage balance, credit card debts, outstanding utility bills, income tax due to HMRC, council tax arrears, funeral expenses (if not yet paid)
Net estate	Assets minus liabilities

Income Account During Administration

Record all income received after the date of death in a separate income account. For each income item, note:

Source (e.g. "Barclays estate account interest").
Tax year in which it arose.
Gross amount.
Tax deducted (if any) and by whom.
Net amount received.

This section feeds into the SA900 calculation. For guidance on SA900, see our SA900 estate tax return guide.

Expenses and Debts Paid

List every payment made from the estate in date order, with:

Date of payment.
Payee.
Description (e.g. "Funeral — ABC Funeral Directors").
Amount.

Group payments into categories: funeral expenses, administration costs, IHT and other taxes, debts settled, and specific legacies.

The Distribution Account

The distribution account shows how the net estate (after all expenses) is divided among beneficiaries:

Specific legacies: Cash amounts paid to named individuals.
Residue calculation: Total estate less all expenses and specific legacies = residue for division.
Each beneficiary's share: Amount payable to each, based on the will's proportions.
Income distributions: Each beneficiary's share of estate income (net of tax) and the corresponding form R185 (Estate Income) issued to them.

Getting Beneficiary Approval

Before closing the estate, provide each beneficiary with a copy of the accounts and ask them to sign a statement confirming:

They have reviewed and approved the accounts.
They confirm receipt of their share of the estate.
They release the executor from any further claims relating to the administration.

This signed approval — sometimes called a "release and discharge" — is not a statutory requirement and does not make an executor immune from a claim, but it records that the beneficiary saw the figures and accepted them, which makes a later challenge to the accounts considerably harder to bring.

How Long to Keep Estate Records

No official source sets a fixed retention period for executors. What GOV.UK does say is that HMRC can ask to see your records up to 20 years after inheritance tax is paid, which is the practical answer: keep the accounts, correspondence, receipts, valuation reports and tax returns for at least that long.

The 20 years is not arbitrary. Under section 240 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984, HMRC normally has four years to recover underpaid inheritance tax, six years where the underpayment was brought about carelessly, and twenty years where it was brought about deliberately.

Store records securely but accessibly — physical documents in a labelled folder or digital scans in a secure cloud storage are both acceptable.

For the complete estate administration overview, see our estate administration checklist and our probate checklist.

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