The Description of the Legatec, or Annuitant, must be in the following Words of the

£60 per Cent.

Exemptions from Legacy-Duty.

Legacies, and residues, or shares of residues of estates or effects, given to or devolving 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.

And all legacies that were exempted from duty by the stat. 39 Geo. III. c. 73, passed for exempting certain specific legacies given to bodies corporate, or other public bodies, from the payment of duty.

RULES TO BE OBSERVED BY EXECUTORS ON

THE PAYMENT OF LEGACIES.

These rules are prescribed by the stat. 36 Geo. III. c. 52, which creates the obligation, on the part of executors, as to the securing of the payment of the duties; and for this purpose it requires them to retain the same at the time of paying, or delivering, or otherwise discharging the legacies, and of paying not only the particular duty payable on each legacy, within twenty-one days of the date of the receipt of the legacy or annuity, but, also, the duty on the balance of the residue before it is divided among the parties entitled, within fourteen days afterwards, on pain of forfeiture of the distinct penalties prescribed by the act. The duties are to be paid in the London

district, into the head office; but, by the fourth section of the act, persons resident elsewhere are enabled to pay their duties to the stamp-distributors, or such persons as the Commissioners of Stamps may appoint in the district where they

reside.

The value of legacies given by way of annuity, whether for life or lives, or for any term of years, are to be valued according to the tables annexed to this act, and the duty payable thereon is to be paid, by equal instalments, out of the first four annual payments of the annuity; and if the annuity should determine before four years' payments become due, then the duty is payable in proportion only to such payments of the annuity as have actually become due; but if the annuity determine on any other contingency than death, then not only all payments of duty cease, but a return of any previous payments may be obtained as will reduce the duty to the amount of duty payable for the annuity calculated according to the term for which it shall have endured. s. 8.

The duty payable on the value of a legacy given by way of annuity, payable out of another legacy, is to be paid by the person entitled to the legacy out of which the annuity is payable; but the duty on the legacy is to be payable only on the amount thereof, after deducting the value of the annuity. s.9.

Where executors are directed to purchase an annuity of a certain amount, the duty is to be calculated on the sum necessary to purchase such annuity, and deducted from such sum, and paid as on an absolute bequest.

Where the benefit is so given that the amount, in value, can only be ascertained from time to time, by application of the allotted fund; or where the amount or value of such benefit cannot, by reason of the former manner of the gift, be immediately ascertained; the duty is to be charged on the sums so applied from time to time as separate and distinct legacies, and is to be paid out of the fund applicable for such purposes, or charged with answering the same. s.11.

The duty payable on any legacy or residue given for the benefit of different persons in succession, all of whom shall be chargeable with the same rate of duty, is to be paid as if an absolute bequest to one person; but where a legacy shall be given to be enjoyed, in succession, by persons chargeable with different rates of duty, so that one rate cannot be charged thereon, the legatees entitled for life, or other temporary interest, is chargeable with duty as by way of annuity, as they respectively become entitled, and those who may first become absolutely entitled, or who take when all the successions first become liable to the same rate of duty, are to pay duty as if the legacy had been

given immediately. Where any partial interest arises out of property to be enjoyed in succession, the duty is payable thereon as in cases of partial interests provided for by the 9th section. s. 12.

The duty on legacies to persons in succession, liable to the same rate of duty, is to be deducted out of the capital by the executor, on payment of any part of the produce to the legatee, or, if on trust, on payment of the legacy to the trustees; and, where the duty is chargeable at different rates, it is chargeable with the payment as the parties severally become entitled, unless the legacy is vested in trustees; in which case the trustees are chargeable with the payment of the duty. And in cases where any partial interest shall arise out of such legacies, and be payable by the persons enjoying the property in succession, they shall pay and be responsible for the duty payable on such partial interests. s. 13.

No duty is chargeable on any plate, furniture, or other effects given in succession, and not yielding any income, till the same shall be sold, or shall come to some person having the power of sale thereof. s. 14.

The duty is chargeable on legacies to be enjoyed by different persons in succession, whether they are entitled to the same by will or intestacy. s. 15.

The duties on legacies, in joint tenancy, are payable in proportion to the interest of the parties;