Mr. DOYLEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give a return of the amount of money that has been remitted direct to the Accountant Comptroller from taxpayers where it has been found that their payments in the past have not reached their total liability, where the Revenue authorities have claimed restitution for longer than the three years' limit provided by the Statute, and where this payment has been obtained under a threat of prosecution for having within the Statutory limit made incorrect returns; whether very large sums have been collected by the Crown in cases of taxes paid by taxpayers in mistake, as in the case of an endowment for charitable purposes made in favour of the vicar and churchwardens and trustees of St. Andrew's and St. Nicholas's churches, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where, owing to the want of knowledge, the Crown has received taxes since 1842, estimated to amount to £3,000 or £4,000, application having been made to the Treasury for restitution and been refused, excepting so far as the legal limit of three years is concerned?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINMy hon. Friend is under a misapprehension in supposing that it is the practice to accept money payments as an alternative to the institution of criminal proceedings. Money payments are accepted in suitable cases in settlement of pecuniary penalties exigible by law, but there is no separate record of the amount of these, as distinct from the tax which it is competent to assess. I am not aware of the extent to which the trustees mentioned by my hon. Friend, or other persons who may have failed to exercise their right to claim repayment of Income Tax may have been affected, but the three years' time limit imposed by Section 41 of the Income Tax Act of 1918 is necessarily of general application, and cannot be extended in particular cases.