Finance Act 1974

Loan to pay estate duty

17 (1) Interest is eligible for relief under section 75 of the [1972 c. 41.] Finance Act 1972 if it is interest on a loan to the personal representatives of a deceased person, the proceeds of which are applied—

(a) in paying, before the grant of representation or confirmation, estate duty in accordance with section 6(2) of the [1894 c. 30.] Finance Act 1894, being estate duty which is payable in respect of the personal property of which the deceased was competent to dispose at his death and is payable on delivery of the Inland Revenue affidavit; or

(b) in paying off another loan interest on which would have been eligible for that relief by virtue of this paragraph if the loan had not been paid off (on the assumption, if the loan was free of interest, that it carried interest);

and the interest is paid in respect of a period ending within one year from the making of the loan within sub-paragraph (a) above.

(2) The reference in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above to relief by virtue of this paragraph shall be construed as including any relief by virtue of section 19(4) of this Act.

18 If or to the extent that any relief in respect of interest eligible for it under paragraph 17 above cannot be given against income of the year in which the interest is paid because of an insufficiency of income in that year, it may instead be given against income of the preceding year of assessment, and so on ; and if or to the extent that it cannot be so given it may instead be given against income of the year following that in which the interest is paid, and so on.

19 Paragraph 17 above does not apply to interest on so much of any loan as is applied in paying estate duty in respect of property situate in Great Britain which did not pass to the personal representatives as such, or in respect of property situate elsewhere which, had it been situate in Great Britain, would not have passed to the personal representatives as such.

20 Sufficient evidence of the amount of estate duty paid in accordance with section 6(2) of the [1894 c. 30.] Finance Act 1894 in respect of any particular description of property, and of any statements relevant to its computation in the Inland Revenue affidavit, may be given by the production of a document purporting to be a certificate from the Board.

21 For the purposes of the preceding paragraphs—

(a) " estate duty " means estate duty leviable under the law in force in Great Britain or the law in force in Northern Ireland together with any interest payable on the duty; and

(b) references to interest in respect of a period ending within a given time apply whether or not interest continues to run after that time.

22 The preceding paragraphs shall apply to estate duty leviable under the law of Northern Ireland with the substitution for the estate duty enactments mentioned therein of the corresponding enactments forming part of the law of Northern Ireland and with the substitution in paragraph 19 of " Northern Ireland " for " Great Britain ".