intent to defraud, if application be made within three calendar months after such duty was paid by mistake, and before any suit has been instituted, the difference may be paid, with £10 per cent. thereon by way of penalty. Where, by reason of the infancy or absence from the kingdom of the legatee, the executor or administrator cannot pay any legacy or residue, he may pay the same, deducting the duty, into the Bank of England, with the privity of the AccomptantGeneral of the Court of Chancery, to the account of the person entitled; and if in such case it shall appear that too much duty has been paid, the excess is returnable, on application in the same manner as before specified; but, if too little duty has been paid, the deficiency, with the penalties, may in like manner be paid, and then application may be made to the Court for repayment of the further sum so paid to the Commissioners for duty, out of the money in the Bank. The 33d section provides that if, at the end of two years after the death of the testator or intestate, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Stamps that it will require time to collect the debts or effects, or that it will be difficult to ascertain or adjust the amount of the residue, and that the parties interested shall be desirous of compounding for the duties, they may, with the consent of the Commissioners, make application to the Court of Exchequer to appoint a person to set a value on such property, for the purpose of ascertaining the duty thereon. Where a legacy is retained or invested in the funds for minors, the receipt must be signed on the day of the investment, and the duty paid within twenty-one days on the value of the stock; for, if it be signed on any other day, probably the stock bore a different price, and then the computed duty for the day of the purchase cannot be taken at the Stamp-Office; and the penalty of £10 attaches on the duty; and, if not paid within three months, the penalty is £10 per cent. on the whole value. A legacy payable to a legatee, on his attaining twenty-one years, or at some future period, the interest of which is directed, by the will, to be applied for the benefit of such legatee, until the legacy becomes payable, being a vested legacy, the duty is payable on the amount or value of such legacy immediately, and the office-form is to be filled up and signed by the executor or trustee, as retaining the legacy in trust for the legatee. If, after payment of the duty on a legacy or residue, it shall be necessary for the legatee to refund the legacy, or any part thereof, the duty, in proportion to the amount so refunded, is return able. Where a legatee is entitled to two or more distinct legacies or benefits under a will, which are together of the amount or value of £20, each is chargeable with the duty, though each may be separately under that value or amount. When executors or administrators are desirous of paying the duties on probates of wills, letters of administration, or legacies, &c. they should go to the Legacy-Duty-Department, Somerset-House, and state to the door-keeper the precise object of their application, who will direct them to the proper officer. The form, when obtained, whether it be a legacy, annuity, or residuary form, must be first filled up; and when signed by the legatee, must be taken back to the Legacy-Duty-Office, in order to have the duty assessed thereon, and the duty paid; and when the receipt is stamped with the rate of duty which has been paid, it will be returned to the executor. Persons resident in the country may pay their duties in the district of their residence, and may obtain the necessary forms from the distributors of stamps in their district who will also supply them with requisite information for getting them stamped. Of the residuary form two copies must be filled up and signed by the executor or administrator: one of which is to be deposited in the office at the time of the payment of the duty. Stamp-Office, London. Regulations to be observed for obtaining a return of duty overpaid, and for paying the necessary increase of duty due on Probates of Wills and Letters of Administration, on which too much or too little stamp-duty shall have been paid, on taking out the same, in consequence of the estate and effects of the deceased having been estimated, by mistake, at a greater or less value than they were. 1. Application must be made, in the first instance, in the Legacy-Duty-Department: and within six calendar months after the true value of the effects shall have been ascertained, and it shall be discovered that too much or too little duty has been paid. 2. Persons applying must produce the probate or letters of administration, together with an affidavit by the executor or administrator, executors or administrators, stating the circumstances of the case, according to the forms subjoined, or as nearly as may be. 3. The affidavit must be made before a Master in Chancery, ordinary or extraordinary, and upon a 2s. 6d. stamp, unless the executors or administrators shall attend in person at the StampOffice, in which case the affidavit may be sworn before a Commissioner, and will not require a stamp, but must be brought ready written, and left in the Legacy-Duty-Department for examination, one day previous to the parties attending. 4. In all cases of a return of duty being applied for, there must be annexed to the affidavit a correct inventory account and valuation of the estate and effects of the deceased, which must be subscribed by the person or persons making the affidavit. 5. In cases of letters of administration, on which too little duty shall have been paid at first, there must be delivered with the affidavit, a certificate from the register or deputy register of the Ecclesiastical Court, which granted the letters of administration, that the administrator hath given further security for the due administration of the personal estate and effects of the deceased, in consequence of the same having been since discovered to be of greater value than was first sworn to, pursuant to the above act, sect. 42. But this is the only case in which it will be requisite to make any application to the Ecclesiastical Court. 6. If the application shall be made by an agent for the executors or administrators, he must write his name and place of residence at the foot of the affidavit. 7. The probate-duty-clerk will compare the affidavit with the probate or letters of administration, and see that it contains all the particulars required by the forms subjoined; and especially that the Court which granted the probate or letters of administration is correctly stated and described. 8. If the affidavit is found defective or incorrect, it must be rejected, stating to the party what the defect is, and giving him a copy of these regulations. 9. If the affidavit is found sufficient, the probate-duty-clerk will fill up the proper warrant, and sign his name in the margin of the warrant and of the affidavit, in token of his examination, and send the same, together with the probate or letters of administration, to the Board, for a commissioner's fiat for altering the stamps; and, in order that the executors or administrators may be sworn to the affidavit, if attending in person, the probate-duty-clerk is also to write and sign a note in the margin, or on the back of the probate or letters of administration, that the effects have been since sworn under the sum of £ adding "Stamp-Office," after his name. 10. The Board will retain the affidavit and the inventory account and valuation and certificate, above-mentioned, to be filed; and will deliver the warrant, with the probate or letters of administration, to the person making the application. The warrant will contain directions for the further proceedings. Note. When the stamps on the probate or letters of administration shall have been rectified, pursuant to the commissioners' orders, the business will be completed. And in the case of an additional or higher duty being stamped on the probate or letters of administration, the stamps thereon, with the note of the probate-duty-clerk to be written in the margin or on the back thereof, pursuant to the 9th Regulation, signifying that the effects have been since sworn under the sum to be there mentioned, will be sufficient for passing the probate or letters of administration through the Bank of England, or other public company, in order to the transfer of stock, &c. and for any other proceedings to be had upon the probate or letters of administration, to the extent of the value covered by the stamps and specified in the note, without any further notation being made by the Ecclesiastical Court which granted the probate or letters of administration, as seems to have been imagined. And no fees or gratuities are to be taken by any officer or clerk at the Stamp-Office, for any thing done by him in pursuance of the aforegoing Regulations, but the whole business to be done there is to be free of expense; it being the object of the provisions of the Act of Parliament, to relieve the public from the expenses formerly incurred in cases of too much or too little stamp-duty being paid on probates and letters of administration. By order of the Commissioners, I |