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[THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY] Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill-
second reading
Section 14 is also amended in subsection (8) by paragraph (b) of clause 4 to make it clear that the Commissioner may require any person whom he believes to be accountable for duty to give information regarding the estate or affairs of a deceased person.
A third amendment to section 14 is the removal of an ambiguity in subsection (13). Paragraph (c) of clause 4 of the bill makes it clear that in every case in which too much estate duty has been paid, the excess duty will be refunded together with the interest on it at the rate laid down in subsection (6) of section 12.
It is also proposed to amend subsection (15) of section 12. As it is worded at present this subsection empowers the Commissioner to call upon an accountable person to file accounts where property in respect of which he is accountable for duty has not been disclosed and to assess duty in certain circumstances. As a result of a case which went to the Privy Council in 1967, this provision was found to be defective in two respects. First, the Commissioner can only call upon a person to file accounts if he is in fact accountable; if the person's accountability is in doubt, it must be determined by the court. Before the matter is decided, the accountable person may have left the jurisdiction and the Commissioner cannot proceed further. Secondly, even if the question of accountability is decided in the Commissioner's favour, if the accountable person fails to file accounts after being called upon under subsection (15) of section 14, the Commissioner is unable to make an assessment since subsection (12) of section 14 provides that the Commissioner can assess duty only on the basis of filed accounts.
To overcome the difficulties, paragraph (d) of clause 4 seeks to replace subsection (15) of section 14 by a new provision, giving the Commissioner power to assess duty if he is not satisfied with the accounts filed or if accounts have not been delivered within six months after the date of death of the deceased person and the Commissioner is of the opinion that a person is accountable. Discretionary power is reserved to the Commissioner to allow conditional postponement of payment of the assessed duty where an appeal against his assess- ment is to be made under section 22. This latter section is now amended by clause 5 of the bill to make it clear that accountability can be the subject of an appeal under this section.
The last clause in this bill to which I would like to refer is clause 6 which amends section 25 of the principal Ordinance. This section, as it now stands, requires all unincorporated banks, shops and business undertakings to disclose to the Commissioner of Estate