HC Deb 05 December 1938 vol 342 cc877-8W
Sir W. Davison

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what period the trustees of an estate who have sold the same to a purchaser for the highest price which they were able to obtain have to wait for the final settlement of Estate Duty in order that the Inland Revenue authorities may see whether such purchaser has, by dividing up the estate into lots or otherwise, been able to obtain a larger sum for the estate than the amount which he originally paid to the trustees; and why the trustees have to pay duty on any such profit made by the purchaser which they have not themselves received?

Captain Wallace

There must of necessity be some interval of time between the date of death and the determination of the value of any real property included in an estate. My hon. Friend is, however, mistaken in supposing that the Inland Revenue authorities deliberately impose, for the purpose suggested in his question, any period of waiting for the settlement of the valuation of property; and I should be glad if he would furnish me with particulars of any case he has in mind in which this is alleged to have happened. In reply to the second part of his question, I would refer him to the reply which I gave him on 21st November last.