§ MR. NOBLE (Hastings)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury at what rate Income Tax is deducted on dividends of Public Companies payable during the current financial year, but which have partly accrued during last year; and if at the rate of 7d. in the £1 for the whole period, by what authority 7d. in the £1 is deducted from that portion of the dividend which accrued while the Income Tax was 6d. in the £1?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTIt is assumed that the hon. Member refers in his question to English Public Companies. The rate at which those companies deduct Income Tax from their dividends is a matter between the companies and their shareholders. The tax is charged upon the profits and gains of the companies, not on the dividends. If the advice of the Board of Inland Revenue is sought, they advise that the deduction by such companies shall be at the rate, or rates, in force during the periods in which the profits distributed in dividends have been accruing—namely, 6d. in the £1 for so much of the dividend as relates to the period up to April 5, 1893, and 7d. in the £1 for so much of it as relates to the period from April 5, 1893.
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTI must refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to a similar question on the 12th June by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which it was stated that the deductions for foreign and colonial dividends were made under Acts of Parliament named in that reply.