Estate Duty Act, 1955 (Act No. 45 of 1955)

(1)	In this Act and in any regulations made thereunder, unless the context otherwise indicates—

"administration and distribution account"

[Definition deleted by section 3(a) of Act No. 92 of 1971];

"child"

in relation to any person, includes any person adopted by him—

(a)	under any law of the Republic; or

(b)	under the law of any country other than the Republic, provided the adopted person is under such law accorded the status of a legitimate child of the adoptive parent and the adoption was made at a time when the adoptive parent was ordinarily resident in such country;

"close corporation"

means a close corporation within the meaning of the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (Act No. 69 of 1984);

"Commissioner"

means the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service appointed in terms of section 6 of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997 (Act No. 34 of 1997), or the Acting Commissioner designated in terms of section 7 of that Act;

"company"

includes any association incorporated or registered under any law in force in the Republic and any association which, although not so incorporated or registered, carries on business or has an office or place of business or maintains a share transfer register in the Republic;

"domestic policy"

means any life policy as defined in section 1 of the Long-term Insurance Act, 1998 (Act No. 52 of 1998), issued anywhere upon an application made or presented to a representative of an insurer (or to any person on behalf of such a representative) at any place in the Republic, excluding a life policy which has been made payable at a place outside the Republic at the request of the owner, but including any life policy issued outside the Republic which has subsequently been made payable in the Republic at the request of the owner;

"duty"

means estate duty payable under this Act;

"executor"

means any person to whom letters of administration or of executorship have been granted by a Master in respect of the estate of a deceased person under any law relating to the administration of estates, or whose appointment as assumed executor of such an estate has been endorsed by a Master under such law, or who liquidates or distributes such an estate in pursuance of a direction of a Master, and includes a person acting or authorized to act under letters of administration or of executorship granted outside the Republic but signed and sealed by a Master for use within the Republic and, in any case where the estate is not required to be administered under the supervision of the Master, the person administering the estate;

"fair market value"

means—

(a)	the price which could be obtained upon a sale of the property between a willing buyer and a willing seller dealing at arm’s length in an open market; or

(b)

in relation to immovable property on which a bona fide farming undertaking is being carried on in the Republic, the amount determined by reducing the price which could be obtained upon a sale of the property between a willing buyer and a willing seller dealing at arm’s length in an open market by 30 per cent;

"family company"

in relation to a deceased person, means any company (other than a company whose shares are quoted on a recognized stock exchange) which at any relevant time was controlled or capable of being controlled directly or indirectly, whether through a majority of the shares thereof or any other interest therein or in any other manner whatsoever, by the deceased or by the deceased and one or more of his relatives;

"liquidation and distribution account"

means the account required to be rendered by an executor to a Master in accordance with section 35 of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act No. 66 of 1965), or where the provisions of section 68 of the Administration of Estates Act, 1913 (Act No. 24 of 1913), apply, the account required to be rendered by an executor to a Master in accordance with the last-mentioned section;

"Master"

in relation to any matter, property or estate, means the Master or Assistant Master of the High Court appointed under the Administration of Estates Act, 1965, who has jurisdiction in respect of that matter, property or estate;

"relative"

in relation to any person, means the spouse of such person or anybody related to him or his spouse within the third degree of consanguinity, or any spouse of anybody so related, and for the purpose of determining the relationship between any child referred to in the definition of "child" in this sub-section and any other person, such child shall be deemed to be related to its adoptive parent in the first degree of consanguinity;

"Secretary"

[Definition deleted by section 9(1)(b) of Act No. 106 of 1980];

"South African Revenue Service"

means the South African Revenue Service established by section 2 of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997;

"spouse"

in relation to any deceased person, includes a person who at the time of death of such deceased person was the partner of such person—

(a)	in a marriage or customary union recognised in terms of the laws of the Republic;

(b)	in union recognised as a marriage in accordance with the tenets of any religion; or

(c)	in a same-sex or heterosexual union which the Commissioner is satisfied is intended to be permanent.

Provided that a marriage or union contemplated in paragraph (b) or (c) shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be a marriage or union without community of property.

"stocks or shares"

in relation to any company means any part of the share capital or members' interest of that company and includes any debenture, debenture stock or any other like form of marketable security.

"Tax Administration Act"

means the Tax Administration Act, 2011.

(2)	Unless the context indicates otherwise, a word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Tax Administration Act bears that meaning for purposes of this Act.