HC Deb 07 July 1930 vol 241 cc168-70

(1) Where any payment to which section twenty-five of the Finance Act, 1927, applies (which section provides for the taxation of copyright royalties by deduction in cases where the usual place of abode of the owner of the copyright is not within the United Kingdom) is made through an agent resident in the United Kingdom, and that agent is entitled as against the owner of the copyright to deduct any sum by way of commission in respect of services rendered, the amount of the payment shall for the purpose of Rule 21 of the General Rules be taken to be the amount thereof as diminished by the sum which the agent is so entitled to deduct: Provided that, where the person by or through whom any such payment is made does not know that any such commission is payable or does not know the amount thereof, any tax deducted by or assessed and charged on him shall be computed in the first instance on, and the account to be delivered of the payment shall be an account of, the total amount of the payment without regard being had to any diminution thereof, and in that case, on proof of the facts to the satisfaction of the special commissioners, there shall be made to the agent on behalf of the owner of the copyright such payment of tax as is proper in respect of the sum deducted by way of commission.

(2) Sub-section (1) a this section shall apply to payments made after the fifth day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty, and any tax deducted in relation to any such payment made before the passing of this Act in excess of the tax which it would have been proper to deduct if this section had been in force shall be made good, and, on proof of the facts to the satisfaction of the special commissioners, any corresponding excess of tax which has been paid shall be repaid.

(3) The time of the making of a payment to which section twenty-five of the Finance Act, 1927, applies shall, for all the purposes of the Income Tax Acts, be taken to be the time when it is made by the person by whom it is first made and not the time when it is made by or through any other person.—[Mr. Matters.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. MATTERS

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

I understand the Chancellor of the Exchequer is willing to accept this new Clause. It is merely of a machinery character, and therefore I will content myself with formally moving it.

Mr. P. SNOWDEN

This is a proposal which does not cost a great deal of money but which will remove an injustice which is felt by a number of people, and I therefore have pleasure in accepting it.

Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY

May I ask how much this concession will cost? Earlier this evening the right hon. Gentleman resisted an Amendment which would not have cost very much.

Mr. SNOWDEN

It is very difficult to say exactly. It may be some hundreds, or one or two thousand pounds.

Clause added to the Bill.