asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of each of the last three years the number of estates in which the Estate Duty Office assessed assets at less than £5,000; and the average cost of processing each such assessment.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Estate Duty Office.
24.
I assume the Deputy has in mind estates which did not exceed £5,000 net in value and which, consequently, were not liable to duty. No precise information is available as to the number of such cases but it is thought to be in the region of 10,000 per year. The cost of processing cases of this kind is not available, but it can be said that, in general, they occupy very little official time.
25.
asked the Minister for Finance the number of changes in Estate Duty Office forms in the last three years; the number and rank of people engaged on redrafting forms; the purpose which it is hoped to serve by the changes; how many more changes are planned; and why no provision was made in the new forms for recording the reference numbers of the persons presenting such forms.
The answers to the Deputy's questions, taken in the order in which they are set out, are as follows:
1. The size of the forms for Inland Revenue affidavits and Inland Revenue accounts has been reduced to foolscap size.
To cater for small estates in single-leaf, a simple form of Inland Revenue affidavit has been introduced.
The fastening of multi-leaved forms has been altered to facilitate solicitors in having typecopies made.
So far as possible legacy duty and succession duty accounts have been amalgamated so as to reduce the number of forms in use. The lay-out of forms has, so far as practicable, been simplified.
The process of amalgamating forms and of getting rid of obsolete ones necessitated the renumbering of all forms. A list giving a description of the forms and their new numbers is available in the Estate Duty Branch.
2. The task of reviewing forms, and where necessary redrafting them, is a minor part of the duties of a senior examiner. Apart from incidental typing no other staff is involved.
3. The reduction in size and the alteration in the fastening of multiple-leaved forms are designed to facilitate solicitors as regards type-copying, photocopying and filing. The reduction in the number of forms in use will reduce the stock of forms they need to carry.
4. No further immediate changes are in contemplation but the question is one which is under constant review.
5. All correspondence, forms, headed note-paper, query sheets and similar matter (except the present stock of acknowledgment cards) carry a space for the solicitor's reference number.
Forms of Inland Revenue affidavit and account when first lodged are, in practice, accompanied by a covering letter which shows the solicitor's reference number.
Is the Minister aware that, for instance, in the North of Ireland and in Britain these schedules of assets forms have a blank space in which solicitors may record their own references, and might I suggest that a similar provision be made in the new forms here?
I must confess that as an administrator I try to see the broad picture and I find these details a little tiresome.
That is because they are tiresome to the bureaucrat. The Minister ought to consider the people who have to use these forms. A little consideration for other people is a quality which the Minister has not got.
The Deputy should be asking me questions about the balance of payments and things like that, not about multi-leaved forms for estate duty.
The Minister should not allow the majesty of his office to cause him to forget the ordinary citizen. That is what he is forgetting and I shall persistently remind him.
I do not want to be unkind but the Deputy is using the process of the Dáil Question wrongly in this way. These are matters which concern him in his professional capacity and which should be taken up by him through his organisation, the Solicitors' Apprentices Debating Society, or whatever it is.
What the Minister is complaining about is my looking after the interests of the small person against the majesty of the State.
26.
asked the Minister for Finance why the Estate Duty Office has deleted from Schedule of Assets forms the certificate for the Probate Office as to receipt of affidavits showing the value of deceased persons' property and certificates of payment of estate duty; why separate forms are now issued for these; why duplicates thereof are not issued to enable solicitors to keep proper records; and if he will have steps taken to rectify the matter.
The certificates in question are issued by the Revenue Commissioners for Probate Court purposes only.
In order to produce a smaller form of Inland Revenue affidavit, so as to facilitate filing for solicitors, it was decided to issue the certificates as separate documents. These do not form part of a solicitor's record and it is not proposed to issue duplicates.
This is another indication of lack of consideration for other people. Have they no right to have a record of what the State is doing?