Finance Act, 1978

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Relief in respect of estate duty in certain cases.

37.—(1) In this section—

“deceased” means a person who died on or after the 1st day of April, 1972, and before the 1st day of April, 1975;

“free estate”, in relation to a deceased, means the real and personal estate of the deceased which devolved on and became vested in his personal representative and as to which the deceased was entitled for an estate or interest not ceasing on his death, but does not include property over which he exercised by will a power of appointment;

“investments” means stocks, shares or securities which, at the date of death of the deceased, were quoted on a stock exchange and holdings of units (within the meaning of the Unit Trusts Act, 1972 ) in a unit trust scheme (within the meaning of the said Act) the prices of which were published regularly and includes any such investments notwithstanding that, in the period between the date of such death and the date or dates of the sale of the investments, changes occurred in the nature of the investments by reason only of transactions effected by the relevant company or its shareholders, or by a manager or trustee under, or the holders of units in, the relevant scheme;

“personal representative” means the executor or the administrator for the time being of a deceased;

“residue” means such part of the personal estate comprised in the free estate of the deceased as was liable for the payment of the estate duty chargeable on the free estate in connection with the death of the deceased.

(2) Where, in relation to the free estate of a deceased, a claim is duly made for relief under this section, if, but only if, the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied—

(a) that investments, which were in the sole name of the deceased at the date of his death and were comprised in the residue of his free estate, were sold for full consideration in money or money's worth within 18 months of such date to provide for the payment of estate duty properly payable in connection with such death in respect of such free estate, and

(b) that no property, other than investments, was available to provide for the payment of that duty,

then, for the purposes of—

(i) the assessment and payment of the amount of the estate duty payable in respect of such free estate, and

(ii) any allowance against estate duty for duty payable outside the State in respect of such free estate,

they shall substitute for the amount of the principal value of the said investments the amount realised on the sale thereof:

Provided that, for all other purposes of death duties, the value of all property (including investments) passing or deemed to pass on the death of the deceased shall continue to be the principal value:

Provided also that any reduction in the amount of estate duty payable in respect of the free estate aforesaid by virtue of this section shall not exceed the amount of estate duty paid in respect of the free estate and, for the purpose of this proviso, any part of such amount paid by means of a transfer of stock or securities to an account of the Minister for Finance shall be deemed to be an amount equal to the actual value, and not the nominal face value, of the said stock or securities.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the amount realised on the sale of investments shall not be reduced by the amount of any expenses, whether by way of commission or otherwise, incidental to the sale, but shall take into account expenses, if any, incurred by the personal representative concerned in connection with transactions referred to in the definition of “investments”.

(4) A claim for relief from estate duty under this section shall be made in writing to the Revenue Commissioners by the personal representative concerned and shall be made not later than the 31st day of December, 1978.