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The amendment of 1890 was not retroactive. (Matter of Van Kleeck, 121 N. Y. 701.)

The Act of 1891 did not operate to prevent a subsequent assessment and collection of a tax on the estate of a decedent who died intermediate the Act of 1887 and the Act of 1891. (Matter of Prime, 136 N. Y. 347.)

The taxes imposed by the Collateral Inheritance Act are special and not general, and the rule is that special tax laws are to be construed strictly against the government and favorable to the taxpayers, that a citizen cannot be subjected to special burdens without clear warrant of law. (Matter of McPherson, 104 N. Y. 306; Matter of Enston, 113 N. Y. 174; Matter of Vassar, 127 N. Y. 1.)

Estates vested before the passage of the Transfer Tax Act are not subject to the tax. (Matter of Travis, 19 Misc. 393.)

The Act does not apply to legacies not payable until after its passage where the testator died before. (Matter of Coggswell, 4 Dem. 248.)

Property taxable under the Inheritance Tax Laws of other states is none the less taxable under the laws of this state. (Matter of Burr, 16 Misc. 89.)

The statute does not mean that taxable estates are exempt from taxation to the extent of $500, but that only such estates as exceed $500 are taxable. (Matter of Sherwell, 125 N. Y. 376.)

The words "such tax shall also be imposed when any such person or corporation becomes beneficially entitled, in possession or expectancy, to any property or the income thereof by any such transfer, whether made before or after the passage of this act" are not intended to be retroactive in effect. They apply to a case where a trans

fer was executed before the passage of the Act and a person or corporation should thereafter become beneficially entitled to the property. (Matter of Forsyth, 10 Misc. 477.)

The words "such tax shall also be imposed when any such person or corporation becomes beneficially entitled, in possession or expectancy, to any property or the income thereof by any such transfer, whether made before or after the passage of this act" apply solely to gifts causa mortis and not to transfers by will or intestacy. Where, therefore, a will creating a remainder was proven before the passage of any Collateral Inheritance Tax Law, such remainder, although not actually vesting in possession until after the passage of such act, was transferred at the time of the testator's death and is not taxable. (Matter of Seaman, 147 N. Y. 69, reversing 87 Hun 619, which was based upon the opinion in Tallmadge v. Seaman, 85 Hun 242; Tallmadge v. Seaman, 9 Misc. 303, practically affirmed.)

Where, by the terms of a will, a life tenant has power to dispose of his estate during life or by will, and in case of his failure so to do the estate is to pass to certain remaindermen, and the life tenant by will directs that the property be distributed "according to the provisions of the will" of the first testator, the property is deemed to have been transferred to the remaindermen under the first will and not under the second; and such transfer is not taxable where the first testator died before the passage of the law taxing transfers by will. (Matter of Langdon, 153 N. Y. 6, affirming 11 App. Div. 220.)

Securities conveyed to a trustee by a conveyance irrevocable except by consent of grantor and trustee, and to be transferred to certain named persons upon the death

of the grantor, are transferred immediately upon the execution of the deed and are not taxable upon the death of the grantor. The transfer is in the nature of a gift inter vivos. (Matter of Green, 7 App. Div. 339.)*

When property is conveyed to a trust company to hold and manage during the life of the grantor, to pay the income thereof to him and to transfer the same after his death to the persons named in his will or to his next of kin, a naked revocable trust is created and the property is to be taxed as passing by the will. (Matter of Oysbury, 7 App. Div. 71.)

Where property was deeded in 1882 to trustees in trust to pay income to decedent for life and on her death to convert it into money and distribute it to nephews and nieces, and where the death of decedent occurred after the act of 1885 went into effect, it was held that the legacies to the nephews and nieces were exempt. (Matter of Hendricks, 18 St. Rep. 989.)

The party who takes under the execution of a power of appointment in a will takes under the will, and the property so received is taxable under the Collateral Inheritance Tax Act. (Matter of Stewart, 131 N. Y. 274, reversing 61 Hun 554, affirming 10 Supp. 15.)

Where the personal estate of the deceased consisted exclusively of a distributive share in the estate of a deceased sister who resided at the time of her death without the estate and no part of said estate had come into the possession of the testatrix prior to her death, such portion of her estate was not liable to taxation. (Matter of Thomas, 3 Misc. 388.)

The payment of mortgages on real property from the personal estate where both the real and personal property are in the same hands does not reduce the personal prop

*This decision was reversed in 153 N Y., 223, reported since going to press.

erty for the purpose of taxation under this act. (Matter of Livingston, 1 App. Div. 568; Matter of Sutton, 3 App. Div. 308.)

Although a clear equitable conversion is established by the testator's will, the tax cannot be assessed upon the succession to the equity of redemption in the real estate. (Matter of Sutton, 15 Misc. 659; but see Matter of Wheeler, 51 St. Rep. 513.)

Personal property of a resident decedent is taxable wherever situated. (Matter of Swift, 137 N. Y. 77.)

Real property without the state devised by the will of a resident is not taxable. (Matter of Lorrilard, 6 Dem. 268, decided in 1887; Matter of Swift, 137 N. Y. 77.)

A foreign estate is liable to the legacy tax. (Matter of Craig, 15 Supp. 548, decided in 1891.)

A legacy of $500 is of a fair market value on its face and subject to taxation. (Matter of Bird, 32 St. Rep. 899; Matter of Kavanagh, 6 Supp. 669.)

A bequest of $500 not being payable until the end of a year from the granting of letters while the appraisal is made of the value at the time of the death is not at that time worth $500 and so is not taxable. (Matter of Peck, 9 Supp. 465.)

Where an equity in devised lands subject to a mortgage is less than $500 it is exempt from taxation. (Matter of Kene, 8 Misc. 102.)

Life insurance policies held by the testator at the time of his death, and payable to himself, his executors, administrators, assigns and legal representatives, are property within the meaning of the Transfer Tax Act and can be valued and assessed for taxation. (Matter of Knoedler, 140 N. Y. 377; 68 Hun 150.)

Funds on deposit to the credit of a partition suit to

which the deceased was a party are not to be considered real property for the purposes of exemption under this act. (Matter of Stiger, 7 Misc. 268.)

A bequest for the maintenance of a burial plot is exempt as funeral expenses. (Matter of Vinot, 26 St. Rep. 610.) A bequest in trust for masses, if not contained in funeral expense clause, is taxable. (Matter of Black, 3 Supp. 452.)

A bequest in satisfaction of a debt is not a legacy within this act. (Matter of Rogers, 30 St. Rep. 943.)

In order to avoid taxation upon the ground that a legacy is in payment for services a valid claim therefor must be proven. (Matter of Doty, 7 Misc. 193.)

A legacy "in consideration of a home for me at my house during my life" is in payment of a debt and not taxable. (Matter of Hulse, 39 St. Rep. 402.)

The tax is upon the right of succession to and not upon the property itself. (Matter of Swift, 137 N. Y. 77.)

The tax is not on property but on the transmission of it; it therefore attaches although the property is not taxable.

For example United States Bonds.

(Matter of Howard, 10 St. Rep. 185; Matter of Keith, 5 Supp. 201; Matter of Tuigg, 15 Supp. 548; Matter of Hendricks, 18 St. Rep. 989; Matter of Carver, 75 Hun 612, affirming 4 Misc. 592.)

Contra. The later decisions, however, are to the effect that United States bonds are not taxable. Section 22 of the Act of 1892 (now section 242 of the Tax Law) provides that "property" shall mean " property. . . over which this state has any jurisdiction for the purposes of taxation," and Federal securities are plainly not within the taxing power of the state. Without this express exemption, or

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