Evening star., 1932-03-18
Some Estate Taxes Retroactive
If Congress Followed Example Set by States 1t Could
Include Provision in District of Columbia Law
Retanding Hundreds of Thousands Of
Dollars to the City.

! able only to estates still In process OF
settlement. Consequently. the policy OF
| the Government with respect to the
Maine tax would not necessarily be
| followed In the case OF the statute
| under consideration. However, IL mas
been the policy of the GoVernment 70
allow credit for all taxes exacteo py
the States up to 80 per centum ol
the Federal tax. There has been no
disnosition on the part of the Govern
I nnent to question the validity OF the
exaction of the State. This will moss
likely be the policy Of the bureau with
respect to any payments made TO the
State of Indiana, under the statute re-
ferred to above.
The Three-Year Limit.
Section 301 Cb) Of the revenue act
of 1926 provides that the credit shall
include only such taxes as were actu-
ally paid and credit therefor claimed
within three years after the filing OF
the return required by section 304.'
Under this limitation the department.
of course. cannot allow a credit for any
taxes that are paid after three years
from the date Of filing Of the estate
tax return.
"It is probable that in many cases
the allowance of a credit for such addi-
tional payments will involve refund
of a portion of the tax collected by the
Federal Government. In such cases
the refund must be governed by sec
| tion 3I9 of the revenue act OF 1925,
section sos of the revenue act OF 1928
Af 6n nc1Yy
Department relating to the refund OF
estate taxes collected"
The State of Iowa has q retroactive
nrovision in its estate tax law declar-
| ing that a tax shall be imposed upon
| the transfer of the net personal es-
tate of every decedent dying after the
26th day of February. 1926 defective
date of the Federal 80 per cent credit
nrovisior1). whose estate shall be opened
and pending in the courts of this State,
or subject to the jurisdiction Of such
courts. at the effective date of this act,
or whose estate shall or may become
subject to administration in, or to the
Jurisdiction of the courts of this State
after the effective date of this act"
What Maine Did.
The State Of Maine, which was one
of the first to take advantage of the
so per cent credit provision, also
has a retroactive provision which ap-
plies ito all estates not fully distrib-
uted and now in process Of settlement,
where the date of death was subse-
quent to February 26, 1926"
Michigan has a somewhat similar
retroactive clause. with certain eXcep-
tions, as follows: THE provisions of
this section shall apply to the estates
of decedents, dying ON or after the ef-
fective date of the Federal revenue act
of 1926, except in those estates where
the tax was paid in full prior to May
81. 1929, in accordance with the pro-
visions of law then in force"
Vermont law says: THE provisions
of this act shall apply to all estates in
process of settlement, where the date
Of the decedent was subsequent to Feb
ruary 26. 1926"
The State of Florida is attempting
to get the benefit of the 80 per cent
credit as far back as possible, which,
in the case of that State, is the date
of November 4, 1880, when the State