The SA.2 Statement of Affairs: The Revenue Form Behind Every Irish Grant

Every Irish grant of probate or administration is preceded by a form that executors abroad have usually never heard of until it stops their application. The Statement of Affairs (Probate), known as Form SA.2, is filed with the Revenue Commissioners before the Probate Office will accept an application, and it sets out the deceased’s assets and liabilities, the beneficiaries, and what each is to receive. It replaced the older Inland Revenue Affidavit in 2020 and is filed online. For a domestic estate it is a routine step. For a cross-border estate it is the step that produces the PPS-number problem, the valuation problem and the question of which assets belong on an Irish form at all. This article explains what the form is, what it asks for, and how a non-resident file gets through it.

What the Form Is For

Revenue needs to know what passes on a death and to whom, so that any tax consequences can be followed up with the beneficiaries. The SA.2 is the mechanism. It is not itself a tax return and it does not calculate anything; it is a declaration of the estate. When it has been filed, Revenue issues a Notice of Acknowledgement, and that acknowledgement is lodged with the probate application as proof that the Revenue step has been completed. The Probate Office will not process an application without it. We do not advise on tax, and this article does not touch on what any beneficiary may owe; what we do is complete and file the form accurately, which is a legal task rather than a tax one.

What It Asks For

Three things, each of which has a cross-border twist. The deceased: name, address, date of death, PPS number, and questions on domicile and residence that determine how much of the worldwide estate the form is concerned with. The assets and liabilities: every asset with its value at the date of death, which is why the asset schedule described in documents for an Irish grant when you live abroad has to be complete before the form can be filed, and every debt, including funeral expenses. The beneficiaries: each person who takes under the will or on intestacy, their relationship to the deceased, their PPS number, and the value of what they receive.

Which Assets Belong on an Irish Form

For a person who died domiciled and resident in Ireland, the form concerns the worldwide estate. For a person who lived and died abroad with Irish assets, the position depends on the answers to the domicile and residence questions, and the form is designed to take those answers and ask for what is relevant. Getting this right matters in both directions: declaring foreign assets that do not belong on the form creates confusion, and omitting Irish assets that do creates a false declaration for which the applicant is responsible. We complete the form from the facts of the particular estate, and where the deceased’s domicile is itself uncertain, which happens with people who moved between countries late in life, that question is resolved first.

Valuations

Every asset is entered at its value on the date of death. Bank balances come from the institutions. Irish shares are valued at the quoted price on the date of death, which the registrar or a stockbroker supplies. Irish property needs a valuation from an Irish valuer, obtained early because the Probate Office fee is also scaled to the net estate. Where an asset has to be reconstructed, such as an old shareholding that has been through several registrars, the valuation waits for the reconstruction, which is a reason to start it early; see Irish shares in a foreign estate.

Filing, Queries and the Acknowledgement

The form is filed through Revenue’s online system, normally by the solicitor acting on the application, from the schedule and the beneficiary details the applicant has provided and approved. Revenue may raise queries, particularly on estates with a foreign dimension, and the answers go back through the same system. Once Revenue is satisfied, the Notice of Acknowledgement issues and the probate application can be lodged. On a prepared file, with the PPS numbers in and the valuations complete, this phase is short. Its position in the overall sequence is shown in how long an Irish grant takes from abroad.

When the Estate Changes

Diaspora estates have a habit of growing after the grant. An old account surfaces when a bank writes to the deceased’s last Irish address; a shareholding appears in a dividend cheque; a cousin mentions the site. Where an asset is discovered after the SA.2 has been filed, an amended form is filed disclosing it, and depending on the asset a further step with the Probate Office may follow. The procedure exists and is routine; what matters is that it is done, because the applicant has declared the estate and is responsible for the declaration being complete. The same applies where a valuation turns out to have been materially wrong.

The Solicitor’s Role Where Beneficiaries Are Abroad

The SA.2 is also where the rule for non-resident estates has its practical home. Broadly, where the applicant lives outside Ireland and a non-resident beneficiary is to receive €20,000 or more, an Irish solicitor must be appointed before the grant issues, and that solicitor is the estate’s agent for the Irish tax compliance of those beneficiaries. The appointment is recorded as part of the process and the solicitor carries real responsibility for it, which is why a solicitor who takes on a non-resident estate will want the asset schedule and the beneficiary picture to be right before the form goes in. The rule is explained in do I need an Irish solicitor for probate?