289.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
།?། ། ། ། །
Reference :-
C.O. 885
SIR,
No. 122.
(WINDWARD ISLANDS: ST. VINCENT.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Liability of certain Companies and Firms to the payment of Income Tax.]
Royal Courts of Justice,
December 31, 1901.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. H. Bertram Cox's letter of the 4th instant stating that he was directed by you to request the favour of our opinion upon a question that had arisen as to the liability of steamship and other companies or firms to be assessed to Income Tax in the Island of St. Vincent under the law of that Colony.
That Mr. Cox was to forward a letter, dated the 23rd July last, and addressed to the Colonial Office by the Secretary of the General Shipowners' Society, stating that a firm of London Shipowners, who were members of the Society, had been assessed to Income Tax in St. Vincent in respect of income derived from the Colony, and enquiring whether there had been any recent change in the law of the Colony on the subject, and, if 80,
what was the nature of the change.
That an extract from the above-mentioned letter was referred to the Governor of the Windward Islands for his report thereon; and that Mr. Cox was to forward his despatch in reply, No. 116 of the 14th September, covering a report dated the 10th September from the Administrator of St. Vincent.
That on the 19th October, in accordance with the suggestion contained in the fifth paragraph of the last mentioned report, the correspondence was referred to Mr. J. Bayldon Walker, the Chief Assessor and Chief Justice of St. Vincent (then on leave in this country) for his observations on the subject.
That Mr. Cox was to forward Mr. Bayldon Walker's letter of the 5th November, stating his views upon the points at issue, together with copies of the Ordinances therein referred to, viz. :-23 of 1887, 4 of 1888, 16 of 1889, and 1 and 18 of 1897.
That Mr. Cox was to request us to take the correspondence and the Ordinances into our consideration and to report :—
1. Whether firms and companies doing business in the manner described in the correspondence, and having offices and agents or servants in St. Vincent, were carrying on a trade within the Colony so as to be liable to be assessed to Income Tax under section 7 (b) of the Ordinance 23 of 1887 ?
2. Whether the method of assessment adopted by the assessors was correct?
3. Generally.
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your commands,
have the honour to
Report-
1. That in our opinion these firms and companies are carrying on trade within the Colony so as to be liable to be assessed to Income Tax under section 7 (b) of the Ordinance No. 23 of 1887. We may refer to Erichsen v. Last, 4 R. 8 Q. B. D. 414, a case which is not in any way over-ruled by Grainger v. Gough, 1896, A. C. 325.
2. The principle as to the method of assessment is laid down by the Court of Appeal in Erichsen v. Last, ubi sup. It is, put shortly, that the Company are to be assessed on the amount received from contracts made in the Colony after deducting the expenditure necessary to earn these receipts. We see no reason to think that the assessment is, in any way, erroneous in principle, although the method of arriving at the particular figures in each case may be a somewhat rough one.
3. We have nothing to add.
The Right Honourable J. Chamberlain, M.P.,
&c.,
&c..
c.
We have, &c.,
R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.
10591-23-1,1902 Wt 352 D&S
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