And all legacies which were exempted from duty by the Act passed in the 39th year of George the 3rd, c. 73, for exempting certain specific legacies given to bodies corporate or other public bodies, from the payment of duty (h). Legacies and residue, or shares of residue of or out of the estate and effects of any person where the whole of such estate and effects does not amount to £100 (i). Legacies or residue or shares of residue of less amount or value than £20, where the testator or intestate died before 1st June, 1881 (k). Legacies given for the education or maintenance of poor children in Ireland, or to be applied in support of any public charitable institution in Ireland, or for any purpose (in Ireland) merely charitable (1). The following is an abstract of the principal provisions of the Legacy Duty Acts now in force : The duty is to be paid by the executor (m) upon the payment of the legacy, and in default of payment, the duty is a debt from the executor and also from the legatee (n). Every gift by will or testamentary instrument, which by virtue thereof is to have effect out of the personal estate of the deceased or out of any personal estate which he had power to dispose of, and whether such gift be by way of annuity, or in any other form, is to be deemed a legacy for the purpose of the Acts; and every donation mortis causâ is also to be deemed a legacy. But no money which by any marriage settlement is subject to any limited power of appointment for the benefit of . persons therein specially named and described as the objects of such power, or any issue of such persons, shall be liable to duty under the will by which the power is exercised (o). (h) 55 Geo. 3, c. 184. (i) 43 Vict. c. 14, s. 13. (k) 44 Vict. c. 12, s. 42. (1) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 82, s. 38. (m) It will be borne in mind that the term "executor" in the above abstract includes an administrator, (n) 36 Geo. 3, c. 52, s. 6. (0) 8 & 9 Vict. c. 76, s. 4. See also 45 Geo. 3, c. 28, ss. 4, 5. Duty to be paid by executor before paying legacy. What is a the meaning legacy within of the Acts. The value of ments. The value of an annuity is to be calculated according to the annuities to be calculated tables in the schedule to the Succession Duty Act, 1853 (p), and according to tables, and the duty thereon is made payable in four equal annual instalto be payable by four instalments, and the value is to be calculated without regard to any contingency on which it may be determinable. But if the annuity determines by death before the end of the four years, the duty is payable in proportion only to so many of the payments of the annuity as actually became due and payable, and in case the annuity determines by any other contingency than death, not only all future instalments of duty cease to be payable, but a return is to be made of so much of the duty actually paid as will reduce the same to the amount which would have been payable for such annuity calculated according to the term for which it shall have endured (q). The value of Duty on legacies given to purchase annuities. Duty on legacies whose The value of an annuity charged on a legacy is to be ascertained in the same manner, and the duty on the legacy is to be paid on its value, after deducting the value of the annuity. The duty on the annuity is to be paid by the legatee, and he is to retain the same out of the annuity (r). The duty upon any legacy given by direction to purchase an annuity of a certain amount is to be calculated upon the sum necessary to purchase the annuity according to the before mentioned tables, and the annuity to be purchased is to be reduced proportionably (8). The duty on legacies whose value can only be ascertained by value can only actual application of the allotted fund is to be charged on the by application money or effects as applied (t). be ascertained of the allotted fund. How duties on legacies enjoyed by persons in succession shall be charged, The duty on legacies enjoyed by persons in succession is to be charged as follows: If all the persons interested are chargeable at the same rate, the duty is to be charged on the legacy and paid as if it were a legacy to one and the same person; but if the persons interested are chargeable at different rates, then the persons having life or other temporary interests are to be charged on such interests as if the annual produce had been given to them by way of annuity, and the person who becomes absolutely entitled is to be charged with duty on the corpus when it falls into possession (u). payable by executor or trustees. Where the duty payable on a legacy given to different per- and whether sons in succession is chargeable at one and the same rate, the executor is to pay it before he transfers or pays the legacy to the trustees of it, but where such duty is chargeable at different rates, then the duty is to be paid by the executor unless the legacy has been paid to or vested in any trustee, in which case the trustee is to be liable for the duty as if he were the exccutor (x). Plate, furniture, or other things, not yielding income, are not Plate, &c. liable to duty while enjoyed by persons who have no right to dispose thereof (y). to intestacies. The duty on legacies enjoyed in succession is to be charged Duties apply as such, whether the person entitled take under the will or by intestacy (z). cies. appointment, The duty on legacies given on joint tenancy is to be paid by Legacies to joint tenants. the joint tenants in proportion to their interests (a). Where a legacy is contingent the duty is payable as if it were Legacies given on contingenan absolute legacy to the first legatee, although the person entitled to the benefit of the contingency may not be liable to the same duty or to any duty: and if the contingency happens and the person thus becoming entitled is chargeable with a higher rate of duty, he must pay the difference (b). Where a legacy is subject to a power of appointment in favour Legacies subjected to of special objects, the property is charged with duty as property power of given to different persons in succession, and the appointees are how to be chargeable as if they had taken under the will creating the power. charged. Where any property is given for a limited interest, and an absolute power of appointment is given to any person to whom the property would not go in default of appointment, the property is upon the execution of the power charged with duty as if it had been immediately given to the donee of the power after allowing any duty previously paid in respect thereof. Where any property is given with an absolute power of appointment and in default of appointment to the donee of the power, the property is chargeable as if it had been given to the donee in the first instance without the power (c). Personal estate directed to be laid out in purchase of real Personal estate directed in purchase of real estate. to be applied estate is charged with duty as personal estate, unless it is given so as to be enjoyed by different persons in succession, and then each party is to pay duty as if it had not been directed to be laid out in real estate, unless it shall have been actually so laid out before the duty accrued, but no duty shall accrue in respect thereof after it has been so laid out. If before the personal estate is laid out, any person becomes entitled to an estate of inheritance in possession in the real estate to be purchased therewith, the duty is to be charged on it as personal estate and paid thereout (d), and this applies not only where the person so becoming entitled is the original donee, but also to every subsequent devolution of the equitable inheritance previously to the money being so laid out (e). Estates pur autre vie. Money left to pay duty not chargeable. Specific legacies. Duty on legacies not satisfied in money, &c. Legatees refusing to Estates pur autre vie applicable by law as personal estate are charged with duty as personal estate (ƒ). If a legacy is given with a direction to pay the duty out of some other fund, the money applied in payment of the duty is not chargeable with the duty (g). Specific legacies and bequests of property not reduced into money are to be valued in the manner pointed out in the Act (1⁄2). Where a legacy is satisfied otherwise than by actual payment, or is released for consideration, or is compounded for, the duty is chargeable on the amount or value of the property taken in satisfaction thereof, or as the consideration for the release thereof, or composition for the same, and where a legacy is given in satisfaction of any other legacy, the duty is not to be paid on both subjects, but on that yielding the largest duty (i). If a legatee refuse to accept his legacy after deducting the accept legacies, duty and to give a proper discharge for it, and if a suit is afterduly deducted, wards instituted for such legacy, the Court may order the legatee so refusing to pay costs (k). to pay costs. Court to provide for duty in administration suits. No legacy In administration suits the Court is to provide for the payment of the duty (7). No executor may pay a legacy chargeable with duty without taking a receipt for the same, expressing the names of the tesliable to duty tator or intestate, and of the executor and legatee, and the to be paid without amount or value of the legacy, and the amount of the duty, and such receipt must be stamped; and any executor or administrator or legatee paying or receiving a legacy without such receipt is liable to a penalty of £10 (m). The receipt must be taken to the head office or some other As to stamping the receipt. office of the commissioners to be stamped within twenty-one days after its date, or, upon paying a penalty of ten per cent. on the duty, within three months after date (n), and after the three months the head office may, on payment of the penalty, stamp the receipt, and the commissioners may in certain cases remit the penalty (0). to duty may Where too little duty is paid by mistake, the commissioners Mistakes as may, within three months, if no suit is instituted, accept the be rectified. difference with 10 per cent. on the difference (p). executors to Where by reason of infancy or absence beyond the seas of the Power to legatee the executor cannot pay a legacy or residue, he may pay pay legacies of it into Court after deducting the duty (q). infants, &c., into court. If any legacy or part of residue has to be refunded by Refunding reason of debts of the testator or otherwise, the duty is to be duty. repaid. retaining An executor, to whom a legacy or residue is given, must, Executor before retaining it, transmit the particulars to the commissioners legacy to who are to assess the duty thereon (r). transmit particulars to commissioners. The liability to legacy duty on the personal estate depends on the domicil of the deceased at the time of his death, all per- Liability to sonal estate being supposed to be locally situate in the place on domicil. duty depends where the owner died. If he was domiciled in England at the time of his death, his personal estate both in England and abroad is liable to the duty, but if he was domiciled abroad no duty is payable on his personal estate either in England or abroad (s). And where a man who is domiciled abroad at his death makes his will under a general power, the personal property thus appointed is exempt from legacy duty (t). But an estate pur autre vie in land in England, "applicable by law in the same manner as personal estate," is liable to legacy duty (m) Sects. 27, 28. (n) Sect. 29. 48 Geo. 3, c. 149, s. 44. (9) Sect. 32. (r) Sect. 36. (s) Thompson v. The AdvocateGeneral, 12 Clark & Fin. 1; Re Napier, 6 Exch. Rep. 217. (t) In re Wallop's Trust, 33 L. J. Ch. 351. |