§ MR. WHITEHEADI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether persons who gave notice before 30th September, 1907, of their intention to claim relief under Section 19 of The Finance Act, 1907, in the event of their income proving at the end of the financial year to be less than £2,000, will be treated as having made a claim under Sub-section 4 of that section and will be assessed accordingly; and, if not, whether he will this session amend The Finance Act so as to give relief to such persons.
I beg also to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether persons engaged in business and making claim at the end of the financial year to repayment of income-tax, on the ground that the actual income from their business has proved to be less than the expectation based on an average of three years profits, will also be entitled to have the tax on their earned income assessed on the footing of 9d. in the £, if their total income falls below £2,000 by reason of their actual realised income from business having fallen below the statutory expectation.
§ MR. ASQUITHWhere a person claims relief under Section 19 of The Finance Act, 1907, before 30th September in any year, but is unable at the time of lodging the claim to complete it by proving that his total income does not then exceed £2,000, he would be allowed, subsequently, to complete the claim and obtain relief in the event of his income for the year as finally ascertained falling within the prescribed limit. For the purposes of this section, however, income must be estimated according to the rules and directions of the Income Tax Acts. In the case of a business assessable on the average profits of the three years preceding the year of assessment, the income of the person who carries it on is reckoned on the basis of that average, not only for the purposes of the charge, but also for the purpose of ascertaining 794 his right to exemption, abatement, or relief to the 9d. rate. The actual profits of the year may exceed the average, or may fall short of it, but in neither alternative, except in a few special cases, is the liability or the right to exemption, abatement, or relief for that year affected.