THEA~ORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

CiROVEB SELLERS A~JSTXN 11. TEXAR ,-..__._ ------ 

HonorableGeorge H,. Sheppard $0-24-48 to Sheppard; re estate 

Comptrollerof Public Accounts of Nellie Pollard Daily 

Austin, Texas ~ ._ 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. ~0-5997 

lb: Application of A%idle 

_,~ 7125, V:A.C.S.,-to an inheritance tax on the estate 

of Aliiemff i Blav6hs, deceagmd, who &ad +ecelved, 

within five years of her 

death, an estate from a 

prior decedent on which a 

tax was paid in Indiana. 

From your request for an opinion dated May 1, 1944, 

we summarizethe following facta, upon rhiah this opinion is 

based8 

Al~ice 0. Slavena received certain trust funds in 

the sum of Q28,589.~0 from the Estate of Mrs. Carrie Brown, 

who ‘died on. November 17, 1939, a reaident...of Winchetiter, 

Indiana. This eatate raa administered under she laws tif 

Indiana, and an inheritance tax was paid under the Indiana 

laws. 

Mice 0. Slavens died on November 25, 1943. 

Your question is: e1.e the Estate of Mrs. Slavena 

entitled to a deduction in.the.amount-of the trust funds that 

she received from Mrs. Brown's Estate, uho was a'non-resident, 

as property previously faxed-,by-the State of Indiana within 

a period of five years?" 

Prior to lq29-there was no provision in our statutes 

for the exemption of estates on which inheritance taxes had 

been paid within any specified period of time. By Acts 1929, 
Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 2 O-5997 

41st Leg., Ch. 26, p. 60, entitled "An Act to Amend Article 

7125 of the Revised Civil Statutes of l925.so as to exempt 

estates upon which Inheritance Taxes have been levied within ffve years from the date of the second passage of said 

estates, and declaring emergency, ' Article 7125 was amended 

as folPowst 

" The only deductions permissible 

under,ihis'law are the debts due by the estate 

. . .and an amount equal to the value of any 

property forming a part of the gross estate 

situated In the United States of any person 

who died within five (5) years prior to the 

death of the decedent; this deduction, however, 

shall only be allowed where an inheritance taxi 

9mnosed under this or anv prior act of the Legfslature was paid by the estate of the prior 

dececent and only in the amount of the value 

placed by the Comptroller on such property in 

determining the value of the gross estate of 

such prior decedent. . .*' (Emphasis ours) 

The emergency clause-of that act recites that: 

"The fact that the present method of ascertaining the amount 

of deductions allowed is unfair and inequitable and places 

undue tax burdens upon estates passing in rapid succession 

creates an emergency . . *' 

^ 

The clause "Where an inheritance tax imposed under 

this or any prior act of.the Legislature was paid" is a very 

Common one in sfmilar statutes of other states, from which 

it was undoubtedly adopted. See 57 A. L. R. 1099; 114 A.L.R. 

1306; Re NilsonPs Estate, 201~Iowa 1033, 204 S.W. 244; 61, 

C. J. 1621, Sec. 2402. Under the decfsions, th,e meaning of 

such clause is quite clear. 

7125, (Aots 1,';9t9i 

the 46th Legislature again amended Article 

Ch. 13, Sec. 2, p. 646). This 

Act fs,entitled in act e . .amending Article' 7125 

Revised civil Statutes of-the State of Texas, 1925, as amended 

qcts, 1929, Forty-fSrst Leg., ch. 26, p. 60, Sec. 1, so as to 

more clearly~.define deductionspermissible for fnheritance tax 

purposes. e 0"s and Article 7125 now reads as follows: 
Honorable George H. Sheppard, Page 3 O-5997 

n 

under Eh 

e . . an 

.The only deductions permissible 

s Law are the debts due by the estate 

an amount equal to the value of any ^ . 

property r’ormlng a part..oS the gross estate 

situated in the United States received from 

any person ~who died within five (5) years 

prior to the death of the deoedent, this rsaudtlon, however, to be only in the amount of thg 

value of, the property upon which an inheritance 

tax was actually paid and shall not include any 

‘legal exemptions claimed by or allowed the helrs 

or 18 atees f of the estate of the prior decednet. 

0 e 0 (Emphasis added) 

The conclusion is inee@hp&le, from this amendment 

deliberately omitting the clause, "Where an inheritance tax 

imposed under this or any prior actof the Legislature was 

paid”, that the Legislature intended thereby to exempt ah estate-of a prior decedent received wYthin five years, and upon which an inheritance tax was paid, even where the tax was 

paid to some other state. 

Therefore, any part of the fund In question upon 

which a tax was actually paid in Indiana is exempt from taxation under the Texas state. 

Trusting that this sufficiently answers your inquiryp we are, 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

%' Arthur L. Moller 

Ass,istant 

ALld/ffsPAM 

APPROVED NAY 8, 1944 

GEO. P.mBLACKBURN 

(ACTING) ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED GPiNI0N~ CO~MMITTEE ~ '- 

BY GS,,CHAIRMAN .,