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Section 15 provides for the apportionment of the estate duty between the parties liable; with
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liberty to apply to the Court in case of dispute.
16 gives power to the Governor-in-Council to remit the payment of estate duty on equitable grounds.
17 contains new provisions giving any person aggrieved by the decision of the Commis- sioner a right of appeal to the Supreme Court.
18 introduces an important innovation calcu- lated to prevent the non-disclosure of property. A Schedule of the property of a deceased person must be annexed to the Probate and it is the duty of any person before dealing with the property of a deceased person to satisfy himself that the property with which he proposes to deal is included in this Schedule: A penalty of $500 is prescribed for non-compliance with the provisions of this section.
19 sub-section (1) re-enacts the existing law. Sub-section (2) is new and is inserted with a view to prevent the concealment of the property of a deceased person by making it obligatory for persons con- cerned to inform the Commissioner of the existence of such property at the ear- liest possible moment after such deceased person's death.
20 throws the onus of disclosing the property of a deceased person, in certain cases, on the person having knowledge of such property. The cases are those in which deceased persons have had interest in auy private shop, bank or business under- taking. The Commissioner has little op- portunity of discovering such an interest nuless it is disclosed; evasion has been, it is thought, very prevalent in the past. It is hoped to minimise this evasion by imposing upon the manager of such shop, bank or business the duty of making a disclosure.
21 is an innovation and provides for the filing of adequate accounts by an Executor should he be called upon so to do by the Commissioner, In the past the only manner in which an executor could be compelled to file any accounts was by means of an application made to the Court
by a party interested. This procedure.
was cumbrous and very rarely used.
22 gives the Commissioner power to reduce any
penalty incurred under the Bill,
The First Schedule sets out the rates at which Estate Duty shall be charged. These rates are modelled on those in force in England.
The Second Schedule repeals certain portions of the existing law which, with one exception, are dealt with by this Bill. This exception is the amendment of section 19 of the Probate Ordinance, 1897. At present the Official Administrator can only deal summarily with estates not exceeding $50 in value. This limit has been found in practice to be too low and by this amendment it is raised to $250.
The Third Schedule contains tables of the values of annuities for use in the calculation of estate duty on life interests. The tables are taken from the law in force in Fiji.
JOHN A. BUCKNILL,
Attorney General.
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