Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1878

CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE ACT 1878

CHAPTER XV.

An Act to grant certain Duties of Customs and Inland Revenue, to alter other Duties, and to amend the Laws relating to Customs and Inland Revenue. [27th May 1878.]

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1878.

Part I.

Customs.

[S. 2 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39 (S.L.R)]

Permission to abandon snuff. 26 & 27 Vict. c. 7.

3. . . .any licensed manufacturer entitled under the Manufactured Tobacco Act, 1863, and this Act, to drawback on snuff on the exportation thereof under the provisions of the said Acts, may, if he see fit, on deposit thereof in the Queen's warehouse at such port or ports and under and subject to such regulations as the Commissioners of Customs may approve, and on receipt of the drawbacks allowed thereon, instead of exporting the same, abandon such snuff to the said Commissioners to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by them.

Penalty on master for excessive deficiency of stores.

4. In the event of any ship having cleared for any foreign voyage from any port in the United Kingdom with stores on board returning to that or any other port in the United Kingdom, if any deficiency in such stores be discovered, which in the opinion of the Commissioners of Customs shall be deemed to be in excess of the quantity which might fairly have been consumed, having regard to the length of time between such departure and return as aforesaid, whether such ship shall have been driven into port by stress of weather, want of repair, or other cause, the master shall forfeit, besides the duties on such excess at the rate chargeable on the importation of goods, the subject of such excess, a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, which penalty and duty shall be recoverable by information and summons before a justice of the peace.

Transhipment to British possessions. 39 & 40 Vict. c 36.

5. So much of section one hundred and thirteen of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, as relates to transhipment goods shall be applicable only to transhipment goods cleared for any British possessions.

Clearance of ships in ballast.

6. If any ship shall depart in ballast from the United Kingdom for parts beyond the seas, not having any goods on board except stores borne upon the victualling bill, nor any goods reported inwards for exportation in such ship, the collector or other proper officer shall, on the application of the master, clear such ship in ballast; and the master of such ship shall answer to the reported inwards for exportation in such ship, the collector or other parture and destination as shall be demanded of him; and ships having only passengers with their baggage on board, and ships laden only with chalk or slate, shall be deemed to be in ballast, and if any ship, whether laden or in ballast, shall depart without being duly cleared, the master shall forfeit one hundred pounds

[S. 7 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39 (S.L.R.)]

Part II.

Taxes.

[Ss. 8–11 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39 (S.L.R)]

Provision as to deduction for depreciation of machinery or plant.

5 & 6 Vict. c. 35.

12. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in any Act relating to income tax, the Commissioners for general or special purposes shall, in assessing the profits or gains of any trade, manufacture, adventure, or concern in the nature of trade, chargeable under Schedule (D)., or the profits of any concern chargeable by reference to the rules of that schedule, allow such deduction as they may think just and reasonable as representing the diminished value by reason of wear and tear during the year of any machinery or plant used for the purposes of the concern, and belonging to the person or company by whom the concern is carried on; and for the purpose of this provision, where machinery or plant is lent to the person or company by whom the concern is carried on upon such terms that the person or company is bound to maintain the machinery or plant, and deliver over the same in good condition at the end of the term of the lease, such machinery or plant shall be deemed to belong to such person or company.

And where any machinery or plant is let upon such terms that the burden of maintaining and restoring the same falls upon the lessor, he shall be entitled on claim made to the Commissioners for general or special purposes, in the manner prescribed by section sixty-one of the Income Tax Act, 1842, to have repaid to him such a portion of the sum which may have been assessed and charged in respect of the machinery or plant, and deducted by the lessee on payment of the rent, as shall represent the income tax upon such an amount as the said Commissioners may think just and reasonable, as representing the diminished value by reason of wear and tear of such machinery or plant during the year: Provided, that no such claim shall be allowed unless it shall be made within twelve calendar months after the expiration of the year of assessment.

Amendment of the law as to inhabited house duties.

13. With respect to the duties on inhabited houses for the year commencing, as respects England, on the sixth day of April, and as respects Scotland, on the twenty-fifth day of May, the following provisions shall have effect:

(1.) Where any house, being one property, shall be divided into, and let in, different tenements, and any of such tenements are occupied solely for the purposes of any trade or business, or of any profession or calling by which the occupier seeks a livelihood or profit, or are unoccupied, the person chargeable as occupier of the house shall be at liberty to give notice in writing, at any time during the year of assessment, to the surveyor of taxes for the parish or place in which the house is situate, stating therein the facts; and after the receipt of such notice by the surveyor, the Commissioners acting in the execution of the Acts relating to the inhabited house duties shall, upon proof of the facts to their satisfaction, grant relief from the amount of duty charged in the assessment, so as to confine the same to the duty on the value according to which the house should, in their opinion, have been assessed, if it had been a house comprising only the tenements other than such as are occupied as aforesaid, or are unoccupied:

(2.) Every house or tenement which is occupied solely for the purposes of any trade or business, or of any profession or calling by which the occupier seeks a livelihood or profit, shall be exempted from the duties by the said Commissioners upon proof of the facts to their satisfaction, and this exemption shall take effect although a servant [1] or other person may dwell in such house or tenement for the protection thereof:

. . .

[Ss. 14, 15 rep. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 19. s. 4.]

Land Tax and other duties on Serjeants’ Inn.

16. [Recital that by 38 Geo. 3. c. 5. s. 2, the place called Serjeant's Inn is charged with a separate and distinct quota of land tax, and that the amount of such quota has been raised annually by members of that Inn acting as Commissioners of Land Tax, who have also acted as Commissioners for the purposes of the duties, on inhabited houses and of income tax.] The said place shall, in all matters connected with the assessment and collection of the land tax and the said duties respectively, be under and subject to the jurisdiction of the Commissioners for putting in execution the Acts relating to the land tax and to the said duties respectively for the city of London: Provided always, that the amount of the quota of land tax at present charged upon the said place shall continue to be assessed and collected subject to redemption under the provisions of the Acts passed in that behalf.

Part. III.

Excise.

Dog Licenses.

Duty on dogs 30 & 31 Vict. c. 5.

17. [Repeal of annual duty of five shillings under 30 & 31 Vict. c. 5.] In respect of every dog, there shall be granted and charged the annual duty of seven shillings and sixpence, and the said Act shall be read as if the amount of annual duty thereby granted and charged was seven shillings and sixpence

[S. 18 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39 (S.L.R.)]

Upon whom proof of age of dog shall lie.

19. Upon the hearing of any information for a penalty for keeping a dog without a license, the proof of the age of the dog shall lie upon the defendant.

Provision as to hound whelps.

20. Where an owner or a master of hounds has taken out proper licenses for all the hounds entered in any pack kept by him, it shall not be necessary for him to take out a license in respect of any hound under the age of twelve months which has never been entered in, or used with, any pack of hounds.

Provision as to dogs used by blind persons. 30 & 31 Vict. c. 5.

21. Nothing in the Dog Licenses Act, 1867, or in this part or this Act, shall render a license necessary in the case of a dog kept and used solely by a blind person for his or her guidance, or render such person liable to any penalty in respect of a dog so kept and used.

Mode of obtaining exemption in the case of shepherds dogs.

22. In the case of dogs kept and used solely for the purpose of tending sheep or cattle on a farm, or in the exercise of the calling or occupation of a shepherd, exemption from duty may be obtained by the owners of such dogs in the following manner:

(1.) The Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall cause such forms of declaration to be prepared as may be required for carrying out the purposes of this section:

(2.) The owner, whether a farmer or a shepherd, may fill up and sign a declaration in the prescribed form, wherein shall be stated the number of dogs kept by him solely for use in tending sheep or cattle, or in the exercise of the calling or occupation of a shepherd, and such further particulars as the said Commissioners may by the form of declaration require to be therein stated; and upon delivering the declaration so filled up and signed by him to the person named therein as the person to whom the same is to be delivered, he shall be entitled to receive a certificate of exemption from duty in respect of the dog or dogs, not exceeding two in number, kept by him solely for use in tending sheep or cattle or in the exercise of the calling or occupation of a shepherd, and such certificate shall be dated on the day on which the same shall be issued, and shall terminate on the thirty-first day of December following:

(3.) Where the occupier of a sheep farm owns more than four hundred sheep, which feed on common or unenclosed land, so that more than two dogs are required to be kept by him for the purpose of tending sheep, and such facts are stated in the declaration delivered by him, he shall be entitled to receive a certificate of exemption in respect of a third dog kept by him solely for such purpose,and if the number of his sheep amounts to one thousand, then in respect of a fourth dog so kept, and in respect of an additional dog so kept for every full number of five hundred sheep so owned by him over and above the number of one thousand: Provided, that he shall not be exempted in respect of more than eight dogs kept on the farm:

(4.) Any person who shall deliver a declaration, wherein the particulars required to be therein set forth shall not be truly stated, shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds; and any person to whom a certificate of exemption may have been issued, who shall not produce and deliver such certificate to be examined and read by any officer of Inland Revenue or Police, within a reasonable time after such officer shall request the production of the same, shall forfeit the sum of five pounds; and such penalties shall be Excise penalties.

Provision as to penalties.

30 & 31 Vict. c. 5.

23. Notwithstanding the provisions in the Excise Acts relating to the recovery and application of Excise penalties, any penalty imposed by the Dog Licenses Act, 1867, or this part of this Act, may be either sued for and applied in the manner prescribed by such provisions, or recovered and enforced upon information of a police constable before a court of summary jurisdiction, subject in the latter case to the following provisions:

(1.) The court of summary jurisdiction shall have power to award costs, and to mitigate the penalty to such an amount as the court may in its discretion think fit:

(2.) The penalty, when recovered, shall, notwithstanding anything in the Acts relating to the metropolitan police courts, or any other Act, as to one half be paid to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and applied in the manner in which Excise penalties are by law applicable, and as to the other half be paid and applied in England and Wales for the benefit of the superannuation fund of the police force to which the police constable who instituted the prosecution belonged, and in Scotland to the treasurer of the police assessment of the county or burgh to the police force of which such police constable belonged.

Miscellaneous.

[S. 24 rep. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 24. s. 16.]

Restriction of use of alkaline salts in the manufacture of snuff. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 93.

25. [Recital.] The first, third, and fourth sections of the Tobacco Act, 1842, shall, as respects the term “salt,” and the term “alkaline salts,” be construed to mean and include only the carbonates chlorides and sulphates of potassium and sodium, and the carbonate of ammonium.

If any person, being a manufacturer of, dealer in, or retailer of tobacco or snuff, shall have in his custody or possession, or shall sell, or offer for sale, any snuff which, after having been dried at a temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees as denoted by Fahrenheit's thermometer, shall be found to contain a percentage of more than twenty-six per centum of the carbonates chlorides and sulphates of potassium sodium and ammonium, he shall forfeit fifty pounds and also the said snuff; and in calculating the said percentage the salts of potassium and ammonium of every description naturally present in the tobacco shall be included.

[S. 26 rep. 51 & 52 Vict. c. 8. s. 26. S. 27 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 39. s. 123.]

[1 Servant means and includes only a menial or domestic servant employed by the occupier, 44 & 45 Vict. 12 s. 24.]