Legacy Duty Act 1796

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1796 c. 52
Year1796
Anno Regni GEORGII III. tricesimo sexto. An Act for repealing certain Duties on Legacies and Shares of Personal Estates, and for granting other Duties thereon, in certain Cases.—

(36 Geo. 3) C A P. LII.

[26th April 1796]

'Most Gracious Sovereign,

WHEREAS it is expedient that the Duties imposed by divers Act of the twentieth, twenty-third, and twenty-ninth Years of your Majesty's Reign, on every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or Sheet or Piece of Paper, upon which any Receipt, or other Discharge for any Legacy left by any Willor other Testamentary Instrument, or for any Share or Part of a Personal Estate, divided by Force of the Statute of Distributions, or the Custom of any Province or Place, should be engrossed, printed, or written, should be repealed, as to such Receipts or Discharges for which new Duties shall be granted by this Act; and that new Duties should be granted in lieu of the Duties so repealed; and that the Provisions made by the said several Acts for collecting the Duties thereby imposed, should be further enforced, as to the Duties which shall not be repealed by this Act: We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Commons ofGreat Britain in Parliament assembled, as well for the Purposes aforesaid, as towards raising the necessary Supplies to defray your Majesty's Public Expences, and making such permanent Addition to the Public Revenue as shall be adequate to the increased Charge occasioned by any Loan made by virtue of any Act or Acts for that Purpose passed or to be passed in this Session of Parliament, have freely and voluntarily resolved to grant unto your Majesty the Duties hereinafter mentioned; and do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted;' and be it enacted by the King'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, That the several Duties by the said several Actsimposed on all Receipts and Discharges for Legacies given by any Will or other Testamentary Instrument, and for Shares or Parts of Residue of Personal Estate upon which any Duty shall be imposed by this Act, shall, from and after the passing of this Act, cease, determine, and be no longer paid or payable; and so much of the said several Acts as relate to such Duties so repealed, and the Payment thereof, shall be, and the same are hereby also repealed.

S-II New Duties.

II New Duties.

II. And be it further enacted, That upon every Legacy, specific or pecuniary, or of any other Description, of the Amount or Value of twenty Pounds or more, given by any Will or Testamentary Instrument of any Person who shall die after the passing of this Act, out of the Personal Estate of the Person so dying, and also upon the clear Residue, and upon every Part of the clear Residue of the Personal Estate of every Person who shall so die, whether testate or intestate, and leave Personal Estate of the clear Value of one hundred Pounds or upwards, which shall remain after deducting Debts, Funeral Expences, and other Charge, and specific and pecuniary Legacies, (if any,) whether the Title to such Residue, or to any Part thereof, shall accrue by virtue of any Testamentary Disposition, or upon Intestacy, there shall be raised, levied, collected and paid, unto and for the Use of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, the several Duties, after the Rates and in Manner following; (that is to say,) where any such Legacy, or any Residue or Part of Residue of any such Personal Estate, shall be given or shall pass to or for the Benefit of a Brother or Sister of the Deceased, or any Descendant of a Brother or Sister of the Deceased, there shall be charged a Duty of two Pounds for every one hundred Pounds of the Value of any such Legacy, or Residue or Part of Residue, and so after the same Rate for any greater or less Sum; where any such Legacy, or any Residue or Part of Residue of any such Personal Estate, shall be given or shall pass to or for the Benefit of a Brother or Sister of a Father or Mother of the Deceased, or any Descendant of a Brother or Sister of a Father or Mother of the Deceased, there shall be charged three Pounds for every one hundred Pounds of the Value of such Legacy, or Residue or Part of Residue, and so after the same Rate for any greater or less Sum; and where any such Legacy, or any Residue or Part of Residue of any such Personal Estate, shall be given or shall pass to or for the Benefit of a Brother or Sister of a Grandfather or Grandmother of the Deceased, or any Descendant of a Brother or Sister of a Grandfather or Grandmother of the Deceased, there shall be charged a Duty of four Pounds for every one hundred Pounds of the Value of such Legacy, or Residue or Part of Residue, and so after the same Rate for any greater or less Sum; and where any such Legacy, or Residue or Part of Residue of any such Personal Estate, shall be given or shall pass to or for the Benefit of any Person in any other Degree of collateral Consanguinity to the Deceased than is herein-before described, or any Stranger in Blood to the Deceased, there shall be charged a Duty of six Pounds for every one hundred Pounds of the Valueof such Legacy, or Residue or Part of Residue, and so after the same Rate for any greater or less Sum: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to charge with any Duty any Legacy, or any Residue or Part of Residue, of any Personal Estate, which shall be given or shall pass to or for the Benefit of the Husband or Wife of the Deceased, or to or for the Benefit of any of the Royal Family.

S-III Duties to be under the Management of the Commissioners for Stamps.

III Duties to be under the Management of the Commissioners for Stamps.

III. And be it further enacted, That the said Duties shall be under the Care, Management, and Direction of the Commissioners for the Time being appointed to manage the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper; who, or the major Part of them, are hereby empowered and required to employ the necessary Officers under them for that Purpose, and to cause four new Stamps to be provided to denote the several Rates of Duty hereby imposed; that is to say, one Stamp to denote the Rate of two Poundsper Centum , one other Stamp to denote the Rate of three Pounds per Centum , one other Stamp to denote the Rate of four Pounds per Centum , and one other Stamp to denote the Rate of six Pounds per Centum , and the same to alter or renew whenever it shall be requisite, and to do all Things necessary for carrying this Act into Execution, according to the Rules, Methods, and Directions herein contained, in as full and ample a Manner as they, or the major Part of them, are authorized and empowered to put in Execution any Law concerning stamped Vellum, Parchment, or Paper.

S-IV Commissioners to appoint Receivers of the Duties, and to keep Accounts, shewing the Personal Estates in respect of which the Duties have been paid.

IV Commissioners to appoint Receivers of the Duties, and to keep Accounts, shewing the Personal Estates in respect of which the Duties have been paid.

IV. And be it further enacted, That the said Commissioners shall, by Writing under their Hands and Seals, or the Hands and Seals of the major Part of them, appoint proper Persons in the several Counties, Shires, Stewartries, Ridings, and Divisions, inGreat Britain , as Occasion shall require, to collect and receive the Duties hereby imposed, and to keep proper Accounts thereof, to be transmitted to the Head Office of the said Commissioners; and upon Payment of any such Duty, if paid at the Head Office of the said Commissioners, the said Commissioners shall cause the same to be duly entered in their Books, and to be set down therein to the Account of the Personal Estate in respect whereof the said Duty shall be paid, and shall make like Entries in their Books, upon Transmission of the proper Accounts for that Purpose from the several Officers to be appointed by the said Commissioners in the different Counties, Shires, Stewartries, Ridings, and Divisions aforesaid, to whom they shall from Time to Time give proper Order for such Purpose; and the Accounts of such Payments shall be kept, with proper References, in alphabetical Order, according to the Surname of the Testator, Testatrix, or Intestate, in respect of whose Personal Estate such Payments shall have been made respectively, so that it may at all Times appear upon the Books of the said Commissioners, what Payments have been made in respect of the Personal Estate of any Testator, Testatrix, or Intestate.

S-V Commissioners may provide printed Receipts, which may be used, or other of the like Forms.

V Commissioners may provide printed Receipts, which may be used, or other of the like Forms.

V. And, in order that all Persons may be enacted to take Receipts and Discharges on the Payment or Satisfaction of any Legacy, or Residue of any Personal Estate, or any Part thereof, according to the Directions prescribed by this Act, be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of Stamp Duties, from Time to Time, to provide sufficient Quantities of Paper adapted for such Receipts or Discharges as aforesaid, and to cause to be printed thereon the Form of Words in the Schedule hereunto annexed; and it shall also be lawful for any of his Majesty's Subjects, requiring such Receipts or Discharges, to cause the same to be duly filled up with Sums, Names, and Date, according to the Provisions before-mentioned, and also upon any Vellum or Parchment, or upon any other Paper not provided by the said Commissioners, to use the like Form whenever there shall be Occasion.

S-VI Duties to be paid by Executors or Administrators, on retaining or paying Legacies.

VI Duties to be paid by Executors or Administrators, on retaining or paying Legacies.

VI. And be it further enacted, That the Duties hereby imposed shall, in all Cases in...

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