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be binding upon all persons taking property subject to said taxes, except for fraud, or the manifest error of such executors, administrators, or trustee; provided, however, that settlement as to any tax upon gifts or transfers of real estate where no conveyance is made by such executor, administrator, or trustee, shall be effected with the person, or persons, receiving the real estate or interest therein, which is subject to said tax.

Suspension of tax, when.

Sec. 20. Whenever it shall be necessary in the settlement of any estate to retain property or funds for the purpose of paying the claim of any creditor, the amount or validity of which is contested and is not determined, the payment of the whole or a propor tionate part of the tax may be suspended, by and with the approval of the state tax commissioners and attorney general, to await the disposition of such claim.

Power of executor to sell.

Sec. 21. Every executor, administrator, or trustee shall have full power to sell, upon application to the chancery court, so much of the property of the decedent as will enable him to pay any tax imposed by this act in the same manner as he might be entitled by law to do for the payment of the debts of the testator, or intestate.

Inventory, when to be filed.

Sec. 22. Every executor and administrator appointed by any chancery court of this state, shall within thirty days after his appointment, file with the state tax commission an inventory under oath showing the full and fair cash value of the estate, both real and personal of the decedent whom such executor or administrator represents, also the names and addresses of all persons known to be interested in such estate as beneficiaries thereof, and shall within one year thereafter file with said state tax commission a further statement under oath showing the gain or loss in the value of such estate during the settlement thereof, the amounts paid out from such estate for funeral expenses and expenses of administration, for the support of the widow and family of the decedent as fixed by the chancery court, and for the settlement of all claims allowed against such estate, and such statement shall also set forth the names and addresses of all persons entitled to take any share or interest of said estate as legatees or distributers thereof, and the fair cash value of each such share and interest. Wherever any person during his life shall appoint a trustee, naming himself or others as beneficiaries, and providing for the administration of said trust after his death, or providing for a termination of said trust and a distribution of the trust estate or any part thereof at his death, all persons acting as such trustee or trustees shall within

thirty days after the death of the creator of such trust, file with the state tax commission a sworn statement showing the trust agreement, if any, the full and fair cash value of the trust estate, the extent of the duration of such trust, the manner provided for its termination, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries thereof, and any other information relating thereto which said state tax commission may deem necessary for the proper assessment of the tax thereon. The state tax commission shall have authority to grant an extension or extensions of the time within which any such inventory or statement is required to be filed as aforesaid, upon written application of the executor, administrator or trustee desiring such extension, and it shall be the duty of such executor, administrator, or trustee, as the case may be, to file such inventory or statement within the extension of time granted by the state tax commission as aforesaid.

Information furnished state tax commission by the chancery clerk.

Sec. 23. Every chancery clerk shall, within thirty days after the granting of letters testamentary or letters of administration upon any estate, notify the state tax commission of the name of the decedent, the name and address of the executor, administrator or trustee appointed, the amount of the bond required by the court, a certified copy of the will and testament of the decedent, a certified copy of the petition for the probate of a will or the appointment of an administrator, and any other information which he may have concerning the estate of such decedent; and shall also furnish forthwith such further information from the records and files of his office in regard to such estate as the state tax commission may from time to time require.

The chancery clerk furnishing the information required by this section shall be paid by the state tax commission out of any money appropriated for the expenses of said board, a fee of ten cents for every hundred words contained in a certified copy of a petition for the probate of a will or for the appointment of an administrator, or for a certified copy of a will and testament when copies of such documents are made by the probate clerk, but the state tax commission may in its discretion make copies of any such document or of any other records of the chancery court, and if such copies are found by the chancery clerk to be correct he shall certify to their correctness and without fee for such certification.

State tax commission may reappraise certain estates, when and how.

Sec. 24. If any inventory or statement filed in accordance with the provisions of this act shall be considered by the state tax commission to be an erroneous or incomplete inventory or statement of the property, real, tangible and intangible, or of any part thereof, of the decedent, the said state tax commission shall within thirty days after the filing of said inventory or statement give notice to

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the executor, administrator or trustee filing the same, to appear before them for the purpose of examination of and concerning such inventory or statement, and of and concerning all matters appertaining to the estate and the value thereof of such decedent; and if the executor, administrator or trustee fail to appear before said commission after due notice, or if after appearance and examination of such executor, administrator or trustee said commission still considers such inventory or statement to be an erroneous or incomplete inventory or statement, or if such executor, administrator or trustee refuses or neglects to answer the questions propounded by said commission in reference to such inventory or statement, said state tax commission may appraise or appoint a person, or persons, to act as appraiser, or appraisers, of such estate. Such appraiser, being sworn, shall forthwith give notice by mail to the executor, administrator or trustee and to all persons known to have a claim or interest in the estate or property to be appraised, of the time and place of such appraisal and shall at such time and place appraise such estate or property at its full and fair cash value as herein prescribed; and for that purpose said commission or said appraiser is authorized to issue subpoenas and to compel the attendance of witnesses and to take the evidence of such witnesses under oath if necessary, concerning such estate or property and the value thereof, and such witnesses shall receive the same fees as those now paid to witnesses subpoenaed to attend the superior court. Such appraiser shall make report thereof and of such value in writing, together with the testimony and depositions of witnesses examined, if any such examination is reduced to writing, to said state tax commission and such other facts in rela tion thereto and to said matter as said commission may order or require. Such appraiser shall receive from said commission a reasonable compensation for services and actual and necessary traveling expenses, payment thereof to be made out of the money appropriated for the state tax commission. From such report of appraisal and other proof relating to such estate or property before said state tax commission, said commission shall determine. the full and fair cash value of the estate or property upon which all taxes imposed by this act are computed and the amount of taxes to which the same is liable. If no appraiser be appointed by said commission as hereinbefore provided, the said commission may determine the value of the property upon which all said taxes are computed and the amount of taxes to which the same is liable. Penalty for failure to furnish state tax commission with required Information.

Sec. 25. If any executor, administrator or trustee, chancery clerk, or other person shall neglect or refuse to file as required by the provisions of this act any inventory or statement with the state tax commission or to furnish to said commission any other information required by this act to be furnished to said commission, or

shall neglect or refuse to comply with any subpoena issued by an appraiser under the authority of section 24, of this act, the state tax commission may apply to the chancellor of the county of such delinquent person in vacation, upon proof by affidavit of such neglect or refusal, for an order returnable in not less than two nor more than five days, directing the person complained of in such affidavit with such neglect or refusal, to show cause before the chancellor who made the order, why such person should not be adjudged in contempt. Upon the return of such order, the judge before whom the matter is brought on for hearing shall examine under oath such person, and such person shall be given an opportunity to be heard, and if the judge shall determine that such person has, without reasonable cause, been guilty of the neglect or refusal complained of, the judge may forthwith commit such offender to jail there to remain until he submits to file the inventory or statement required or to furnish the information required, or to obey the subpoena, as the case may be, or is discharged according to law, or such judge may make any other order in the premises as the circumstances of the case may seem to him to require, and may from time to time, alter, amend or suspend any order entered by him hereunder. Notwithstanding, however, anything in this section or the preceding section of this act contained, whenever any executor, administrator, trustee or other person liable for any tax imposed under the provisions of this act, refuses or neglects to furnish the state tax commission with any information, which in the opinion of the said commission is necessary for the proper computation of the taxes payable hereunder, after having been requested so to do, said state tax commission, may in its discretion certify, assess and collect such taxes at the highest rate at which they could in any event be computed.

Appeal from assessment.

Sec. 26. An executor, administrator, trustee, legatee or other person aggrieved by the determination of the state tax commission as to the amount of the tax imposed by this act on any estate or any part thereof may, within three months after the payment of any such tax to said commission, and provided such tax has been paid under protest, apply to the chancery court in and for the first judicial district of Hinds county by a petition in equity against the state tax commission for the abatement of said tax or any part thereof; and if the said court adjudge that said tax or any part thereof is unfair or excessive or was illegally assessed, it shall order an abatement of such tax or such portion thereof as is unfair or excessive or was illegally assessed, as the case may be, and such order shall be subject to appeal in the same manner as other equity causes. Upon a final decision ordering an abatement of said tax or portion thereof, the state auditor shall issue his warrant on the state treasury for the amount adjudged to be due and the state treasurer shall pay the amount of such abatement to

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the person named in the order of the abatement, with interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, without any further act or resolution making any appropriation therefor.

Transfer of securities-Liability.

Sec. 27. No banking association organized under the laws of the United States and located within this state, no corporation incorporated within this state, and no unincorporated association or joint stock company or business trust, having certificates representing shares of stock and carrying on business in this state, shall record a transfer of its stock made by any executor, administrator or trustee or issue a new certificate for any such share of its stock at the instance of an executor, administrator or trustee, or transfer any registered bond or other registered evidence of indebtedness at the instance of any executor, administrator, or trustee, until a permit authorizing such transference has been issued by the state tax commission, and filed with the said corporation, association, company or trust. Any such corporation, association, company or trust making such a transfer before a permit authorizing such transfer as aforesaid has been issued shall be liable for any tax which may be assessed on account of the bequest or gift of such stock, bond or other evidence of indebtedness, together with the interest thereon, to be collected in an action to be brought in the name of the state tax commission. The state tax commission shall not issue such permit until all taxes imposed on account of such bequest or gift have been paid, or the payment thereof secured by bond or deposit as herein before provided.

Claims of creditors taxed in certain cases.

Sec. 28. The amount due upon the claim of any creditor against the estate of a decedent arising under a contract made after the passage of this act, if payable by the terms of such contract at or after the death of the deceased, shall be subject to the same tax imposed by section 5 of this act upon a legacy of like amount. The value of net estates of decedents or the value of legacies or distributive shares in the estates of decedents, for the purposes of taxation under the provisions of section 1 and section 5 of this act, shall not be diminished by reason of any claim against the estate based upon such a contract except insofar as it may be shown affirmatively by competent evidence that such claim was legally due and payable in the life time of the decedent.

Final account allowed, when.

Sec. 29. The final account of an executor, administrator or trustee shall not be allowed by the court having jurisdiction thereof unless such account shows, and the judge of the court finds, that all taxes imposed under the provisions of this act upon any property or interest therein belonging to the estate to be settled by said account and then payable have been paid or that the payment