Finance Act 1894

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


Finance Act, 1894.

(57 & 58 Vict.) CHAPTER 30.

An Act to grant certain Duties of Customs and Inland Revenue, to alter other Duties, and to amend the Law relating to Customs and Inland Revenue, and to make other provision for the financial arrangements of the year.

[31st July 1894]

Most Gracious Sovereign,

W E, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, towards raising the necessary supplies to defray Your Majesty's public expenses, and making an addition to the public revenue, have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto Your Majesty the several duties herein-after mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

I Estate Duty.

PART I.

Estate Duty.

Grant of Estate Duty.

Grant of Estate Duty.

S-1 Grant of Estate duty.

1 Grant of Estate duty.

1. In the case of every person dying after the commencement of this Part of this Act, there shall, save as herein-after expressly provided, be levied and paid, upon the principal value ascertained as herein-after provided of all property, real or personal, settled or not settled, which passes on the death of such person a duty, called ‘Estate duty,’ at the graduated rates herein-after mentioned, and the existing duties mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act shall not be levied in respect of property chargeable with such Estate duty.

S-2 What property is deemed to pass.

2 What property is deemed to pass.

(1)2.—(1.) Property passing on the death of the deceased shall be deemed to include the property following, that is to say:—

(a. ) Property of which the deceased was at the time of his death competent to dispose;

(b. ) Property in which the deceased or any other person had an interest ceasing on the death of the deceased, to the extent to which a benefit accrues or arises by the cesser of such interest; but exclusive of property the interest in which of the deceased or other person was only an interest as holder of an office, or recipient of the benefits of a charity, or as a corporation sole;

(c. ) Property which would be required on the death of the deceased to be included in an account under section thirty-eight of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881 , as amended by section eleven of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1889 , if those sections were herein enacted and extended to real property as well as personal property, and the words ‘voluntary’ and ‘voluntarily’ and a reference to a ‘volunteer’ were omitted therefrom; and

(d. ) Any annuity or other interest purchased or provided by the deceased, either by himself alone or in concert or by arrangement with any other person, to the extent of the beneficial interest accruing or arising by survivorship or otherwise on the death of the deceased.

(2) (2.) Property passing on the death of the deceased when situate out of the United Kingdom shall be included only, if, under the law in force before the passing of this Act, legacy or succession duty is payable in respect thereof, or would be so payable but for the relationship of the person to whom it passes.

(3) (3.) Property passing on the death of the deceased shall not be deemed to include property held by the deceased as trustee for another person, under a disposition not made by the deceased, or under a disposition made by the deceased more than twelve months before his death where possession and enjoyment of the property was bon fide assumed by the beneficiary immediately upon the creation of the trust and thenceforward retained to the entire exclusion of the deceased or of any benefit to him by contract or otherwise.

S-3 Exception for transactions for money consideration.

3 Exception for transactions for money consideration.

(1)3.—(1.) Estate duty shall not be payable in respect of property passing on the death of the deceased by reason only of a bon fide purchase from the person under whose disposition the property passes, nor in respect of the falling into possession of the reversion on any lease for lives, nor in respect of the determination of any annuity for lives, where such purchase was made, or such lease or annuity granted, for full consideration in money or money's worth paid to the vendor or grantor for his own use or benefit, or in the case of a lease for the use or benefit of any person for whom the grantor was a trustee.

(2) (2.) Where any such purchase was made, or lease or annuity granted, for partial consideration in money or money's worth paid to the vendor or grantor for his own use or benefit, or in the case of a lease for the use or benefit of any person for whom the grantor was a trustee, the value of the consideration shall be allowed as a deduction from the value of the property for the purpose of Estate duty.

S-4 Aggregation of property to form one estate for purpose of duty.

4 Aggregation of property to form one estate for purpose of duty.

4. For determining the rate of Estate duty to be paid on any property passing on the death of the deceased, all property so passing in respect of which Estate duty is leviable shall be aggregated so as to form one estate, and the duty shall be levied at the proper graduated rate on the principal value thereof:

Provided that any property so passing, in which the deceased never had an interest, or which under a disposition not made by the deceased passes immediately on the death of the deceased to some person other than the wife or husband or a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the deceased, shall not be aggregated with any other property but shall be an estate by itself, and the Estate duty shall be levied at the proper graduated rate on the principal value thereof; but if any benefit under a disposition not made by the deceased is reserved or given to the wife or husband or a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the deceased, such benefit shall be aggregated with property of the deceased for the purpose of determining the rate of Estate duty.

S-5 Settled property.

5 Settled property.

(1)5.—(1.) Where property in respect of which Estate duty is leviable, is settled by the will of the deceased, or having been settled by some other disposition passes under that disposition on the death of the deceased to some person not competent to dispose of the property,—

(a ) a further Estate duty (called settlement Estate duty) on the principal value of the settled property shall be levied at the rate herein-after specified, except where the only life interest in the property after the death of the deceased is that of a wife or husband of the deceased; but

(b ) during the continuance of the settlement the settlement Estate duty shall not be payable more than once.

(2) (2.) If Estate duty has already been paid in respect of any settled property since the date of the settlement, the Estate duty shall not, nor shall any of the duties mentioned in the fifth paragraph of the First Schedule to this Act, be payable in respect thereof, until the death of a person who was at the time of his death or had been at any time during the continuance of the settlement competent to dispose of such property.

(3) (3.) In the case of settled property, where the interest of any person under the settlement fails or determines by reason of his death before it becomes an interest in possession, and subsequent limitations under the settlement continue to subsist, the property shall not be deemed to pass on his death.

(4) (4.) Any person paying the settlement Estate duty payable under this section upon property comprised in a settlement, may deduct the amount of the ad valorem stamp duty (if any) charged on the settlement in respect of that property.

(5) (5.) Where any lands or chattels are so settled, whether by Act of Parliament or royal grant, that no one of the persons successively in possession thereof is capable of alienating the same, whether his interest is in law a tenancy for life or a tenancy in tail, the provisions of this Act with respect to settled property shall not apply, and the property passing on the death of any person in possession of the lands and chattels shall be the interest of his successor in the lands and chattels, and such interest shall be valued, for the purpose of Estate duty, in like manner as for the purpose of Succession duty.

Collection and Recovery of Duty and Value of Property.

Collection and Recovery of Duty and Value of Property.

S-6 Collection and recovery of Estate duty.

6 Collection and recovery of Estate duty.

(1)6.—(1.) Estate duty shall be a stamp duty, collected and recovered as herein-after mentioned.

(2) (2.) The executor of the deceased shall pay the Estate duty in respect of all personal property (wheresoever situate) of which the deceased was competent to dispose at his death, on delivering the Inland Revenue affidavit, and may pay in like manner the Estate duty in respect of any other property passing on such death, which by virtue of any testamentary disposition of the deceased is under the control of the executor, or, in the case of property not under his control, if the persons accountable for the duty in respect thereof request him to make such payment.

(3) (3.) Where the executor does not know the amount or value of any property which has passed on the death, he may state in the Inland Revenue affidavit that such property exists, but he does not know the amount or value thereof, and that he undertakes, as soon as the amount and value are ascertained, to bring in an account thereof, and to pay both the duty for which he is or may be...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT