§ LORD HENRY BRUCE (Wilts, Chippenham)asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the case of a yeoman farmer who farms his own land, and has filled in and returned Form D, has he to pay under Schedule A, or does his actual income derived from the land, which would be shown in Form D, represent the amount on which 307 he has to pay Income Tax; in the case of a farmer of this description entering on his holding at, say, Michaelmas, and wishing to be assessed under Schedule D, has he to wait till the commencement of the next financial year before he can do so; and, if he then obtains from the collector and fills in and returns Form D. could the Surveyor of Taxes be right in insisting on the assessments under A and B, on the ground that he had not received legal notice by registered letter as in the Act prescribed?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square)A yeoman farmer who farms his own land is in the same position as any other owner of land with regard to Schedule A. He is assessed upon the annual value to him as owner. The Return under Schedule D, if properly filled up, would show not the actual income derived from the land, as the noble Lord seems to suggest, but the profit or gain from the occupation of the land for the purposes of husbandry; and the annual value of the property under Schedule A would have to be taken into account before the balance of profit under Schedule D could be ascertained. The whole amount, therefore, on which the yeoman farmer has to pay Income Tax is represented by the two assessments under Schedule A and Schedule D. With regard to the second and third paragraphs of the noble Lord's Question, the answer is in the affirmative. Yet I should think that where a farmer had obtained from a collector and filled in a Return under Schedule D, even if he had not fulfilled all the formalities necessary for obtaining such a Return, it might be a question whether the technical objections to accepting the Return ought not to be waived.