§ Sir J. HARMOOD-BANNERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that a confidential instruction, No. 46, has been issued to surveyors of taxes dealing with inequities arising out of the application of Section 45, Sub-section (2), of the Finance Act, 1916, and Section 20, Subsection (2), of the Finance Act, 1917, taken in conjunction with Section 38, Sub-section (3), of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, to the effect that where firms object to pay Excess Profits Duty under the Sections referred to owing to the anomalies of their application where deficiencies occur, the demand for payment of Excess Profits Duty must not be pressed; why the same treatment is not dispensed to firms who do not protest through misunderstanding the position; and, as it is understood that in the confidenial circular, No. 46, it is stated that legislation is in contemplation to rectify the injustice arising from the operation of the Sections referred to, will he indicate, when and in what form such contemplated legislation will be introduced?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWIt is only in connection with the assessment for the final accounting period that the occasion can arise for considering any special treatment of cases in which variations made from time to time in the rate of Excess Profits Duty lead to a net charge of duty, although the profits arising during the whole lifetime of the tax may not, when1410W viewed in the aggregate, exceed the margin of liability. In the interim, in cases which for the moment present similar features, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue are ready on application to defer the collection of the charge.