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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 May 1940

Vol. 80 No. 1

Financial Resolutions. - Resolution No. 11—Death Duties.

I move:—

(1) That in this Resolution—

the word "disposition" includes any trust, covenant, agreement, or arrangement,

the expression "subject matter" includes any annual or periodical payment made or payable under or by virtue of the disposition in relation to which the said expression is used,

the expression "property derived from the deceased" means any property which—

(a) was the subject matter of a disposition made by the deceased, either by himself alone or in concert or by arrangement with any other person, otherwise than for full consideration in money or money's worth paid to him for his own use or benefit, or

(b) represented any of the subject matter of such a disposition, whether directly or indirectly and whether by virtue of one or more intermediate dispositions, and whether any such intermediate disposition was or was not for full or partial consideration.

(2) That paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the Finance Act, 1894, shall have effect in relation to an annuity or other interest which was purchased or provided wholly or in part by any person who was at any time entitled to, or amongst whose resources, there was at any time included, any property derived from the deceased either—

(a) as if the said annuity or other interest, as of its actual amount, had been provided by the deceased, or

(b) in a case in which it is proved, to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners, that the application of all the property derived from the deceased would have been insufficient to provide the whole of the said annuity or other interest, as if—

(i) the said annuity or other interest had been provided by the deceased, and

(ii) the amount of the said annuity or other interest were the actual amount thereof reduced to an extent proportionate to the insufficiency proved as aforesaid.

(3) That, in the application (when given statutory effect) of the foregoing paragraph of this Resolution, there shall be excluded from the property derived from the deceased any part thereof as to which it is proved to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the disposition of which it, or the property which it represented, was the subject matter was not made with reference to, or with a view to enabling or facilitating, the purchase or provision of the annuity or other interest or the recoupment in any manner of the cost thereof.

(4) That for the purpose of Section 4 of the Finance Act, 1894, the deceased shall be deemed to have had an interest in any property included, by virtue of this Resolution (when given statutory effect), in the property passing on the death of the deceased.

(5) That the provisions contained in this Resolution shall have effect in respect of every case in which the death of the deceased occurred on or after the 8th day of May, 1940, whether before or after the passing of the Act giving statutory effect to this Resolution.

Resolution No. 11 is designed to defeat a device for the avoidance of estate duty.

Will the Minister give an example?

The scheme takes many forms; but the underlying principle can be shown in the following simple example:—A makes a gift of £5,000 to his son B, who lends it back to A at 4 per cent. interest. B takes out an insurance policy on A's life and pays the premiums out of the interest he receives from A. In those circumstances two results follow, viz., (1) the policy money is not chargeable to estate duty on A's death because by means of the device B and not A had provided the policy; and (2) the £5,000 which, by reason of the artificial loan transaction, A owes to B, is deductible when calculating the amount of A's estate for estate duty purposes. Resolution No. 11 is designed to defeat the first result and to cause the policy money to be aggregated with the other property passing on the deceased's death.

How much money does the Minister expect to save on this?

It is a preventive measure. We have not made any estimate and we do not know what we will save.

You are losing all the stamp duty.

It might not amount to much.

I do not think these are wise things to do in the long run. However, you are on your course now down the slippery slope and we cannot prevent you.

We are a long time on the slope in these matters.

Resolution put and declared carried.
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