723 *BOOK THE SEVENTH. OF THE STAMP DUTIES ON PROBATES, AND ON LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION (a). Stat. 43 Vict. c. 14. Grant of duties on probates and let ters of administra tion. By the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1880, 43 Vict. c. 14, section 9, it is enacted that "On and after the first day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty, in lieu of the stamp duties now payable (b) upon probates of Wills and letters of administration in England and Ireland, and upon inventories to be exhibited and recorded in any Commissary Court in Scotland, there shall be charged and paid the duties specified in the schedule to this Act (c): Provided that an additional inventory to be so exhibited or recorded of any effects of a deceased person, where a former duly stamped inventory of the estate and effects of the same person has been exhibited and recorded prior to the first day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty, shall be chargeable with the amount of stamp duty with which it would have been chargeable if this Act had not been passed. Account to ac company affidavit probate or letters on application for of administration. Sect. 10.-(1.) "Together with the affidavit to be required and received from a person applying for a probate or letters of administration in England, in conformity with section thirty-eight of the Act passed in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of King George the Third, chapter one hundred and eighty-four, there shall be delivered an account (d) of the particulars of the personal estate for or in respect of which the probate or letters of administration is or are to be granted, and of the estimated value of such particulars. (a) The subject of the stamp duties on probates and letters of administration before 1880 will be found to be exhaustively dealt with in Hanson's Probate, Legacy, and Succession Duty Acts, 3rd ed., and the law after 1880, in the "Revenue Acts, 1880 and 1881," by the same author. (b) I. e., those imposed by 55 Geo. III. c. 184, as modified by 22 & 23 Vict. c. 36, and 27 & 28 Vict. c. 56. (c) This schedule is here omitted, as it is superseded by the scale of duties contained in 44 Vict. c. 12, s. 27, in respect of probates or letters of administrations granted on or after 1 June, 1881. It should be observed that on and after that date stamp duties on affidavits of value are substituted for stamps on the grants themselves. (d) For form of account, see 44 Vict. c. 12, s. 29, post, p. *514. (2.) "The account so delivered shall be transmitted to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, together with the documents mentioned in section ninety-three of the Act passed in the twentieth and twenty-first years of her Majesty's reign, chapter seventy-seven. (3.) "A like account shall be annexed to the affidavit to be required and received from the person applying for a probate or letters of administration in Ireland, in conformity with section one hundred and seventeen of the Act passed in the fifty-sixth year of the reign of King George the Third, chapter fifty-six, and such account shall be in lieu of, and in substitution for, the account annexed to the form of affidavit set forth in Part III. of the schedule to the said Act. (4.) "Every account to be delivered in pursuance of this section shall be in accordance with such form as may be prescribed by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. Power to com mute legacy duty or succession duty presumptively payable in certain cases. Sect. 11. "Where any legacy duty or succession duty shall be presumptively payable in respect of any interest in expectancy upon the determination of a life or other temporary interest in possession in a legacy, or residue, or in personal property comprised in a succession, and the duty (if any) payable upon the life or other temporary interest shall have been fully paid and satisfied, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, in their discretion, upon the application of the executor or trustee or other person who would be accountable for the duty in respect of such interest in expectancy, if it were then in possession, to commute the duty (e) pre*sumptively payable for a certain sum to be presently paid. "For assessing the amount which shall be so payable the Commissioners shall cause a present value to be set upon the presumptive duty, regard being had to any contingencies affecting the liability to such duty, and the interest of money involved in the calculation being reckoned at the rate for the time being allowed by the Commissioners in respect of duties paid in advance under the Succession Duty Act, 1853. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51. "Upon the receipt of the certain sum the Commissioners shall give a discharge for the duty accordingly. Sect. 12. "When an executor, administrator, or trustee shall have Discharge of ex- given notice in writing to the Commissioners of Inland ecutor, &c. from Revenue for any claim to legacy duty or succession duty distribution of in respect of any fund in his hands which he intends to claim to duty on fund. (e) As to powers of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to accept composi tion for legacy duty under a will, see 44 Vict. c. 12, s. 43, post, p. *521. distribute and shall have delivered to the Commissioners all particulars which they may require in order to ascertain the existence and extent of any such claim, he shall be at liberty to distribute the fund amongst the parties entitled thereto, after satisfaction of any claims to duty made by the Commissioners, and shall be entitled to receive from them a certificate discharging him from his liability to any duty in respect of the fund. "Such certificate shall not in any way affect the liability of any person other than the person in whose favor it is expressed to be given. Relief from leg acy duty when whole personal estate is less than 1007. 12. Sect. 13. "Where it appears upon an examination of the account rendered to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue that the value of the whole of the personal estate of any person dying after the passing of this Act does not amount to the sum of one hundred pounds, no legacy duty shall be charged in respect thereof or of any portion thereof." And by the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, 44 Vict. c. 12, which, as will appear, repeals the scale of duties im- Stat. 44 Vict. c. posed upon probates and letters of administration granted on or after 1st June, 1881, it is enacted as follows: Sect. 26. (1.) "The stamp duties hereinafter imposed under the care and management of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, who by themselves and their officers shall have the same powers and authorities for the collection, recovery, and management thereof as are by law vested in them for the collection, recovery, and management of any stamp duties, and shall have all other powers and authorities requisite for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act in relation to such stamp duties. shall *be Stamp duties to be under the care of the Commis and management sioners of Inland Revenue. (2.) "Such stamp duties may be denoted by impressed or adhesive stamps, or partly by impressed stamps and partly by adhesive stamps, as the said Commissioners may think proper (ƒ). (3.) "As respects the duties imposed on affidavits in substitution for the duties on probates or letters of administration, the several provisions now in force (g) in relation to the last mentioned duties shall, so far as the same are consistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to be applicable to the said duties hereby imposed, and in the application thereof a probate or letters of administration having (f) As to cases in which adhesive stamps may be used, see Hanson on the Revenue Acts, 1880, 1881, p. 22. (g) See the provisions of 55 Geo. III. c. 184, post, pp. *526, et seq. thereon such a certificate as is hereinafter mentioned shall for all purposes be deemed to have been duly stamped in respect of the value stated in the certificate. Grant of duties in and letters of ad Sect. 27. "The duties imposed by the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1880, upon probates of Wills and letters of adminisrespect of probate tration in England and Ireland shall not be payable upon ministration and probates or letters of administration granted on and on inventories. after the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one; and on and after that day in substitution for such duties, and in lieu of the duties imposed by the said Act upon inventories in Scotland, there shall, save as is hereinafter expressly provided, be charged and paid on the affidavit (h) to *be required and received from the person applying for the probate or letters of administration in England or Ireland, or on the inventory to be exhibited and recorded in Scotland, the stamp duties hereinafter specified; (that is to say,) "Provided that an additional inventory, to be exhibited or recorded in Scotland, of any effects of a deceased person, where a former inventory of the estate and effects of the same person has been exhibited and recorded prior to the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, shall be chargeable with the amount of stamp duty with which it would have been chargeable if this act had not been passed. Power to deduct debts and funeral deceased expenses where died domiciled in the United Kingdom. Sect. 28. "On and after the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, in the case of a person dying domiciled in any part of the United Kingdom, it shall be lawful for the person applying for the probate or letters of administration in England or Ireland, or exhibiting the inventory in Scotland, to state in his affidavit the fact of such domicil, and to deliver therewith or annex thereto a schedule of the debts due from the deceased to persons resident in the United Kingdom, and the funeral expenses, and in that case, for the purpose of the charge of duty on the affidavit or inventory, the aggregate amount of the debts and funeral expenses appearing in the schedule shall be deducted from the value of the estate and effects as specified in the account delivered with or annexed to the affidavit, or whereof the inventory shall be exhibited. "Debts to be deducted under the power hereby given shall be debts due and owing from the deceased and payable by law () out of any part of the estate and effects comprised in the affidavit or inventory, and are not to include voluntary debts expressed to be payable on the death of the deceased, or payable under any instrument which shall not have been bona fide delivered to the donee thereof three months before the death of the deceased, or debts in respect whereof any real (k) Where the estate exceeds 10,000l., see stat. 52 Vict. c. 7, s. 5. () As to the meaning of these words, which in effect appeared in 5 & 6 Vict. c. 79, s. 23, see Percival v. The Queen, 3 H. & C. 217. |