England Transfer of Property Taxes, Death Duty, Succession Duty, Capital Transfer Taxes, Inheritance Taxes - International Institute

Transfer of Property
Death is considered to be a one-time taxable event and the taxation of property acquired by inheritance has provided governments with revenue since Roman times. A death tax was introduced in Britain in 1694 but the modern system stems from the late 18th century. Some portion or types of assets or bequests are usually exempt from taxation, and so the regulations are complicated. However, family historians don’t need to appreciate all the intricacies of assessment to obtain very useful material, particularly for the 19th century, in the early part of which the two major original sources of civil registration and census are unavailable.

Death (Estate, Probate or Legacy) Duty 1796-1903
The Legacy Duty Act of 1796 was the first of a range of inheritance duties, being extended in 1805 and 1815. A summary of these duties is given in the chart below. These records give information beyond that contained in the wills and their indexes. They are naturally particularly helpful in cases of administration where no will existed, and in cases of wills where the testator fails to individually name all my children, as they name the beneficiaries and their relationships to the deceased. The will may have been written whilst his children were young, and perhaps named his daughters by their first names. The death duties are an invaluable source of the married names of these daughters, making the finding of their marriages so much simpler. The indexes 1796-1858 indicate the date and which court probated the will or granted administration, saving much searching through the many church courts. It is also worth searching the death duty indexes even if you have been unsuccessful finding a will through normal sources. Many wills and administrations slipped through the cracks and do not appear on any index, yet the documents are available, if you know the court and date of probate.

Chart: Death Duties Payable on Estates

This percentage rises rapidly after 1815 as new laws came into effect changing the regulations. Factors involved in the calculations were:


 * Total Value of estate; up to 1853 those below £20 were exempt.
 * Closeness of relationship of the legatee; bequests to spouses were exempt, and close relatives paid less.
 * Whether real estate had to be sold to raise money.
 * The addition by the Succession Duty Act of 1853 of land valued over £100.

The abstracts (registers) give, in addition:


 * The value of the actual estate, not what the testator hoped he had.


 * The name, address and occupation of the executor(s).


 * The will may have noted all my children (or other group of persons) whilst the death duty register will name each one and give their relationship to the deceased.


 * Details of the estates, legacies, annuities and duty paid or whether the deceased was insolvent.


 * Notes, called annotations, were made in the registers for up to 50 years after the original probate or administration. These give family information such as dates of death of those holding life interests and heirs, births of posthumous children, marriages of legatees, address changes, and any lawsuits disputing the will.

Digital images of the death duty abstracts for both wills and administrations are now becoming available on a pay-per-view basis at Findmypast website, with a free index to them.

Succession Duty 1853-1949
Estates worth over £100 became liable for succession duty in 1853 and this applied to any kind of property transferred at any time, including death.

Capital Transfer Tax and Inheritance Tax
All previous estate and succession duties were replaced by the capital transfer tax in 1975 and later by the inheritance tax, the records for which are still protected by privacy laws.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Taxes, Lists, Business, Electoral and Insurance Records offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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