Income Tax Act 1918
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1918 c. 40 |
| Year | 1918 |
Income Tax Act, 1918.
(8 & 9 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 40.
An Act to Consolidate the Enactments relating to Income Tax.
[8th August 1918]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part I.
Charge of Income Tax.
1 Charge of income tax.
1. Where any Act enacts that income tax shall be charged for any year at any rate, the tax at that rate shall be charged for that year in respect of all property, profits, or gains respectively described or comprised in the schedules marked A, B, C, D, and E, contained in the First Schedule to this Act and in accordance with the Rules respectively applicable to those Schedules.
2 Yearly assessments.
2. Every assessment and charge to tax shall be made for a year commencing on the sixth day of April and ending on the following fifth day of April, except where under the provisions of this Act weekly wage-earners are to be assessed and charged quarterly.
3 Fractions of twenty shillings.
3. The due proportion of tax shall be charged for every fractional part of twenty shillings, but no tax shall be charged of a lower denomination than one penny.
Part II.
Super-Tax.
4 Charge of super tax.
4. In addition to the income tax charged at the rate prescribed for any year, there shall be charged, levied, and paid for that year in respect of the income of any individual, the total of which from all sources exceeds two thousand five hundred pounds, an additional duty of income tax (in this Act referred to as super-tax) at the rate or rates prescribed by Parliament for that year.
5 Method of estimating income for purposes of super-tax.
(1) For the purposes of super-tax, the total income of any individual from all sources shall be taken to be the total income of that individual from all sources for the previous year, estimated in the same manner as the total income from all sources is estimated for the purposes of exemption or abatement under this Act, but subject to the provisions hereinafter contained.
(2) Where an assessment to income tax has become final and conclusive for the purposes of income tax for any year, the assessment shall also be final and conclusive in estimating total income from all sources for the purposes of super-tax for the following year, and no allowance or adjustment of liability on the ground of diminution of income or loss shall be taken into account in estimating the total income from all sources, unless that allowance or adjustment has been previously made in respect of income tax on an application under the special provisions of this Act relating thereto.
(3) In estimating the income of the previous year for the purpose of super-tax—
(a ) there shall be deducted in respect of any land on which income tax is charged upon the annual value estimated otherwise than in relation to profits (in addition to any other deduction), any sum by which the assessment is reduced for the purposes of collection, or on which income tax has been repaid under the provisions of this Act in respect of the cost of maintenance, repairs, insurance, and management; and
(b ) there shall be deducted, in the case of an individual in the service of the Crown abroad, any such sum as the Treasury may allow for expenses which in their opinion are necessarily incidental to the discharge of the functions of his office, and for which an allowance has not already been made;
(c ) any income which is chargeable with income tax by way of deduction shall be deemed to be income of the year in which it is receivable, and any deductions allowable on account of any annual sums paid out of the property or profits of the individual, shall be allowed as deductions in respect of the year in which they are payable, notwithstanding that the income or the annual sums, as the case may be, accrued in whole or in part before that year.
6 Charge of super-tax in case of death.
6. In the case of the death of an individual liable to super-tax during any year for which super-tax is charged, a part only of the year's super-tax shall be payable, proportionate to the part of the year which has elapsed before the date of the death.
7 Assessment, collection, and recovery of super-tax.
(1) Super-tax shall be assessed and charged by the special commissioners.
(2) Every person upon whom notice is served, in manner prescribed by regulations under this section, by the special commissioners, requiring him to make a return of his total income from all sources, or, in the case of a notice served upon any person who is chargeable with or liable to be assessed to income tax, as representing an incapacitated, non-resident, or deceased person, of the total income from all sources of the incapacitated, non-resident, or deceased person, shall, whether he is or is not chargeable with super-tax, make such a return in the form and within the time required by the notice.
(3) It shall be the duty of every person chargeable with super-tax to give notice that he is chargeable to the special commissioners before the thirtieth day of September in the year for which super-tax is chargeable.
(4) If any person without reasonable excuse fails to make any return or to give any notice required by this section, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, and after judgment has been given for that penalty to a further penalty of the like amount for every day during which the failure continues.
(5) If any person fails to make a return under this section, or if the special commissioners are not satisfied with any return made under this section, they may make an assessment of super-tax according to the best of their judgment.
(6) All provisions of this Act relating to persons who are to be chargeable with income tax, and to income tax assessments, and to appeals against those assessments, and to the collection and recovery of income tax, and to cases to be stated for the opinion of the High Court shall, so far as they are applicable, apply to the charge, assessment, collection, and recovery of super-tax under this section, and the special commissioners shall, for the purpose of assessment, have any powers of a surveyor, and for the purpose of the representation of the Crown on any appeal before the special commissioners, any person nominated in that behalf by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall have the same powers at, and upon the determination of, the appeal as a surveyor has at, and upon the determination of, any appeal relating to income tax.
(7) The special commissioners may amend any assessment made by them under this section, or make an assessment or an additional assessment, during any time within the year of assessment, or within three years after the expiration thereof.
(8) The Commissioners of Inland Revenue may make regulations for the purpose of carrying this section into effect.
8 Right of husband or wife to require separateassessment.
(1) If an application is made for the purpose in such manner and form as may be prescribed by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, either by a husband or wife, within six months before the sixth day of May in any year of assessment—
(a ) super-tax for that year shall be assessed, charged, and recovered on the income of the husband and on the income of the wife as if they were not married, and all the provisions of this Act with respect to the assessment, charge, and recovery of super-tax, and the penalties for failure to make a return shall apply as if they were not married; and
(b ) the income of the husband and wife shall be treated as one in estimating total income for the purpose of super-tax, and the amount of super-tax payable in respect of the total income shall be divided between the husband and wife in proportion to their respective incomes, and the total amount payable shall not be less than it would have been if an application had not been made under this section.
(2) The Commissioners of Inland Revenue may require returns for the purposes of this section to be made at any time, and the provisions of this Act relating to penalties imposed in the case of income tax for neglect or refusal to deliver, or for delay in delivering, true and correct statements of profits or gains, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in the case of the neglect or refusal to make, or wilful delay in making, any such return.
Part III.
Exemption, Abatement, and Relief.
9 Relief from tax based on total income.
9. An individual who claims and proves, in the manner prescribed by this Act, that his total income from all sources for the year of assessment, estimated in accordance with the provisions of this Act, does not exceed the amounts in the six sections next following, shall be entitled to such relief as is mentioned in those sections.
10 Exemption.
10. Where the income does not exceed one hundred and thirty pounds, the claimant shall be entitled to exemption from income tax.
11 Abatement.
11. Where the income, although exceeding one hundred and thirty pounds, does not exceed seven hundred pounds, the claimant shall be entitled to relief, by way of abatement, as follows:—
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