Readers' forum: French flat

While preparing a tax return for the year ended 5 April 2018 we discovered that a flat in France previously owned in equal shares by our client and her late husband had been gifted equally to their three sons. We have received a letter from the client that reads (after a little editing) as follows.

‘The flat was bought in December 1999 for 1m French francs.

‘The probate value of my late husband’s share is £140 000. This figure was agreed with HMRC at the time of the compliance check so we had better use their figure. It is slightly less than what we established for probate.

‘The flat was donated in December 2016 at the time of the succession but the legal document agreed by the French authorities came back to me only in March 2018. This is why this donation could only be...