§ 65. Sir J. Mellorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is now in a position to reply to letters, dated 5th and 10th February, from the hon. Member for the Tamworth Division, with regard to the claim of the Estate Duty Office that Section 43 of the Finance Act, 1940, applies where executors, in order to give effect to a bequest of an annual payment for life and facilitate distribution of the residue, purchase an annuity from an insurance company; and whether, as this claim gives rise to a possible liability to the executors incalculable until the death of the annuitant, he will take steps to remove this obstacle to the winding up of many estates?
§ Captain CrookshankMy right hon. Friend is advised by the Board of Inland Revenue that the letters to which my hon. Friend refers raised an important question of law on which the Board have thought it desirable to obtain the opinion of counsel, and they lope to be in a position at an early date to communicate with the executors.