Income Tax Act, 1967.

Collection from wife of tax assessed on husband attributable to her income.

194.—(1) Where—

(a) an assessment to income tax or sur-tax (in this section referred to as the original assessment) has been made for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1958, or any subsequent year of assessment on a man, or on a man's trustee, guardian or committee, or on a man's executors or administrators,

(b) the Revenue Commissioners are of opinion that, if an application for separate assessment under section 197 or 198 had been in force with respect to that year of assessment, an assessment in respect of, or of part of, the same income would have fallen to be made on, or on the trustee, guardian or committee of, or on the executors or administrators of, a woman who is the said man's wife or was his wife in that year of assessment, and

(c) the whole or part of the amount payable under the original assessment has remained unpaid at the expiration of twenty-eight days from the time when it became due,

the Revenue Commissioners may give to her, or, if she is dead, to her executors or administrators, or, if such an assessment as is referred to in paragraph (b) could, in the event therein referred to, have been made on her trustee, guardian or committee, to her or to her trustee, guardian or committee, a notice—

(i) stating particulars of the original assessment and of the amount remaining unpaid thereunder, and

(ii) stating particulars, to the best of their judgment, of the assessment which would have fallen to be made as aforesaid,

and requiring the person to whom the notice is given to pay the amount which would have been payable under the last-mentioned assessment if it conformed with those particulars, or the amount remaining unpaid under the original assessment, whichever is the less.

(2) The same consequences as respects—

(a) the imposition of a liability to pay, and the recovery of, the tax with or without interest,

(b) priority for the tax in bankruptcy or in the administration of the estate of a deceased person,

(c) appeals to the Special Commissioners, the rehearing of such appeals and the stating of cases for the opinion of the High Court, and

(d) the ultimate incidence of the liability imposed,

shall follow on the giving of a notice under subsection (1) to a woman, or to her trustee, guardian or committee, or to her executors or administrators, as would have followed on the making on her, or on her trustee, guardian or committee, or on her executors or administrators, as the case may be, of such an assessment as is referred to in subsection (1) (b), being an assessment which—

(i) was made on the day of the giving of the notice,

(ii) charged the same amount of tax as is required to be paid by the notice,

(iii) fell to be made and was made by the authority who made the original assessment, and

(iv) was made by that authority to the best of his or their judgment,

and the provisions of this Act relating to the matters specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) shall, with the necessary adaptations, have effect accordingly.

(3) Where a notice is given under subsection (1), tax up to the amount required to be paid by the notice shall cease to be recoverable under the original assessment and, where the tax charged by the original assessment carried interest under section 550, such adjustment shall be made of the amount payable under that section in relation to that assessment and such repayment shall be made of any amounts previously paid under that section in relation thereto, as are necessary to secure that the total sum, if any, paid or payable under that section in relation to that assessment is the same as it would have been if the amount which ceases to be recoverable had never been charged.

(4) Where the amount payable under a notice given under subsection (1) is reduced as the result of an appeal or of the stating of a case for the opinion of the High Court—

(a) the Revenue Commissioners shall, if, in the light of that result, they are satisfied that the original assessment was excessive, cause such relief to be given by way of repayment or otherwise as appears to them to be just; but

(b) subject to any relief so given, a sum equal to the reduction in the amount payable under the notice shall again become recoverable under the original assessment.

(5) The Revenue Commissioners and the inspector or other proper officer shall have the like powers of obtaining information with a view to the giving of, and otherwise in connection with, a notice under subsection (1) as they would have had with a view to the making of, and otherwise in connection with, such an assessment as is referred to in subsection (1) (b) if the necessary conditions had been fulfilled for the making of such an assessment.