HC Deb 03 July 1923 vol 166 cc297-9

  1. (1) Without prejudice to any right of appeal under the Income Tax Acts or the Acts relating to Inhabited House Duty, any person aggrieved by the amount of the annual value of any property assessed under Section thirty-two of the Finance Act, 1922, shall be entitled to appeal to the General Commissioners against the assessment of annual value if he gives to the surveyor, not later than the thirty-first day of August, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, notice in writing of his intention to appeal.
  2. (2) Any owner or other person in receipt of the rent of any property, although not the occupier thereof, who is aggrieved by the amount of the annual value of the property assessed under Section thirty-two of the Finance Act, 1922, shall be entitled, if a notification of the value so assessed was not delivered to him, to appeal against an assessment to Income Tax under Schedule A or to Inhabited House Duty in respect of that property for the year 1923–24, if he gives to the surveyor not later than the fifth day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, notice in writing of his inten- 298 tion to appeal, and on any such appeal the Commissioners may confirm or amend the assessment as the case may require, and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to appeals against assessments to Income Tax under Schedule A, and the relevant provisions of the Acts relating to Inhabited House Duty shall, with any necessary modifications, apply respectively to appeals under this Sub-section:

Provided that nothing in this Sub-section shall affect the collection or recovery of any tax or duty assessed and charged, and where any assessment is reduced on an appeal under this Sub-section, any tax or duty overpaid shall be repaid.

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I beg to move, in Sub-section (1), after the word "surveyor," to insert the words "notice in writing of his intention to appeal."

This Amendment, with those Amendments which follow, is for the purpose of carrying out the pledges which I gave in the course of the Debates in Committee.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendment made: In Subsection (1), leave out the words "notice in writing of his intention to appeal," and insert instead thereof the words or where the notice of assessment was not given before the first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, not later than the thirtieth day of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-three."—[Sir W. Joynson-Hicks.]

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I beg to move, in Sub-section (2), after the word "Any" ["Any owner or"], to insert the words "occupier of any property or any."

Mr. LEES-SMITH

May I ask for an explanation of this Amendment?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

Those words are to carry out a pledge which I gave, I think, to the hon. Member for Keighley (Mr. Lees-Smith). The object is to give the occupier of any property, as well as the owner, the right of appeal in regard to Schedule A Assessments.

Mr. LEES-SMITH

I raised this point in the Committee stage, and put down an Amendment for the purpose of giving effect to it. The point is that, as a result of the agitation, the period of appeal was extended from three weeks to three months, and in some cases to nearly two years, so far as the owners of property are concerned. We ask that that right should be extended also to the tenant of the property. That proposal has now been accepted by the Government, and I shall not, therefore, persist in the Amendment which stands in my name.

Mr. A. M. SAMUEL

There is little difficulty about this Clause, which I hope my right hon. Friend will allow me to bring before him. Very often a hardship to the owner occurs in reference to these appeals, arising out of the fact that the notices go to the tenants and sometimes the tenants do not send the notices on. Consequently owners may not know that they are being reassessed, though they might want to appeal if they did know. How does my right hon. Friend intend to get over that in case the owner is not able to appeal within the proper time provided by the Act?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I quite agree. I think that my hon. Friend raised that point in Committee. The House will see that we do include an extension of time for appeal, where the owner had not yet delivered to him the notice, up to the 5th April, 1925.

Mr. SAMUEL

It would not do to issue two notices, but if the receiver of the notice could be advised that the notice should be sent on to the occupier it would save a great deal of trouble and expense to the owner.

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I will take a note of my hon. Friend's suggestion, and, in regard to the notices which have not yet been sent out, I will see if anything can be done.

Amendment agreed to.