Honorable David W. Harris,
AGO 474
Opinion No. 474
Pennsylvania Attorney General Opinions
Opinion Of The Attorney General
August 18, 1943
Taxation—Inheritance taxes—Collection by Registers of Wills and certain other employes—Surety bonds—Premiums—How payable—Employes of Secretary of Revenue—Salaries—How payable—Acts of April 8, 1919, P. L. 781; July 8, 1919, P. L. 782; June
20, 1919, P. L. 62; April 9, 1929, P. L. 343, section 1201(f); April 8, 1937, P. L. 286; June 21,-1937, P. L. 1865; April 9, 1929, P. L. 177, sections 609, 709, S404(a); May 21, 1943, P. L. 369; May 21, 1943, P. L. 380; April 23, 1941, P. L. 71.
1. Before May 21, 1943, the premiums on surety bonds of Registers of Wills as agents for. the collection of inheritance taxes had to be paid by the Registers of Wills, and might not be paid from inheritance tax collections; but after May 21, 1943, such premiums may be paid from inheritance tax collections.
2. Premiums on the surety bonds of employes assisting the Registers of Wills in the collection of inheritance taxes in counties having less than 1,500,000 population" should not be paid from inheritance tax collections; such bonds should be secured through the Department of Property and Supplies, if they are deemed necessary by the Executive Board. The same rule applies to employes in counties having more than 1,500,000 population after May 21, 1943. The premiums for surety bonds of such employes in counties having a population of over 1,500,000, prior to May 21, 1943 might be paid from inheritance tax collections only in those instances where your department is satisfied that the procurement of such bonds constitutes "a reasonable expense" incurred in the collection of the inheritance tax by the Registers of Wills.
3. Subject to the supervisory powers of the Secretary of Revenue, the salaries of employes of the Auditor General who assisted the Registers of Wills and the Department of Revenue in the collection of inheritance taxes should be paid from inheritance tax collections. Similarly the salaries of employes now appointed by the Secretary of Revenue to assist the Registers of Wills in the collection of inheritance taxes should be paid from inheritance tax collections.
Honorable David W. Harris, Secretary of Revenue, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Sir: We have the request of the Department of Revenue to be advised concerning certain questions which have arisen in connection with the collection of inheritance taxes by Registers of Wills and certain other employes. We shall discuss the questions in the order submitted.
Your first inquiry is as follows:
1. Should premiums on the surety bonds of Registers of Wills, as agents for the collection of Inheritance Tax, be paid from Inheritance Tax collections or by the Registers of Wills?
This question has been answered by section 1 of the Act of July 8, 1919, P. L. 782, as last amended by the Act of May 21, 1943, P. L. 369, Act No. 171, 72 P. S. § 2482, which now reads as follows (italics denote additions, brackets denote deletions):
* * * all clerks appraisers investigators and others persons [other than appraisers] required to assist any register of wills in [any county of this Commonwealth having a population of less than one million five hundred thousand inhabitants] any county of the Commonwealth in collecting and paying over inheritance taxes shall be appointed and their compensation fixed by the [Auditor General] Secretary of Revenue and upon his approval and order shall be paid out of the said taxes in the hands of the registers together with other necessary expenses incident to the collection of such taxes including the payment of the cost of registers' bonds to the Commonwealth.
This act, as above amended, now expressly provides that...
