Estate duty valuation must be fixed at death date; later compensation and hindsight cannot replace a valid rental basis.

For estate duty valuation, property must be valued as at the date of death on the facts then existing, so compensation awarded years later after an uncertain acquisition cannot be treated as a relevant determinant of value. The rental basis reflected in the wealth-tax assessment was a recognised and rational method of valuation, and the Tribunal committed no error of law in accepting it. A later reopening of the wealth-tax assessment did not undermine the estate duty valuation, which remained correct on the material available at the relevant date.

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Issues: Whether, for estate duty valuation, the property had to be valued on the basis of compensation awarded years after the deceased's death, and whether the Tribunal was right in adopting the rental valuation reflected in the wealth-tax assessment as the proper basis of valuation.

Analysis: The material question was one of legal principle in valuation as at the date of death. The later acquisition compensation could not be treated as a relevant determinant of value in April 1984 when acquisition was still uncertain, because valuation cannot be made with the benefit of hindsight from events occurring years later. The acceptance of the wealth-tax valuation based on rental value disclosed no error of law, and the rental method was a recognised and rational method of valuation. The later reopening of the wealth-tax assessment did not affect the correctness of the estate duty valuation as made on the facts then existing.

Conclusion: The compensation received after death was not a relevant factor for valuing the estate at the date of death, and the Tribunal was right in sustaining valuation on the rental basis; the Department's contention failed.

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