C.W. Schulze v S.W. Bensted (Surveyor of Taxes)
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 15 February 1922 |
| Date | 15 February 1922 |
| Court | Court of Session (Inner House - First Division) |
NO. 444.-COURT OF SESSION (SCOTLAND), FIRST DIVISION.-
The Appellant had kept for a number of years at a Trieste Bank a banking account in his own name as an individual, and from time to time had received in the United Kingdom remittances from that account, the credits to which consisted mainly of interest on investments.
On the information available the Appellant had been assessed to Income Tax under Case V of Schedule D of the Income Tax Acts in the respective sums of £1,118 and £2,348 for the years 1912-13 and 1913-14 in respect of his income from this account. An appeal was lodged against these assessments and thereupon the General Commissioners requested the Appellant by precept to furnish certain further information. The Appellant did not comply with this precept, but informed the Commissioners that the only account which he had with the Trieste bank stood in his name as trustee under his late brother's will, an entirely foreign trust with which the British Revenue was not concerned. The Appellant admitted that the amounts of £1,118 and £2,348 correctly represented the average of the sums remitted to him from the Trieste account in the three years preceding the respective years 1912-13 and 1913-14, but contended that, as under the system of banking in Trieste all sums deposited in that account bore interest from the date of lodgment and thereby became capital, the remittances were capital and not income. He further contended that the remittances were loans made to himself individually by himself as trustee, and were therefore not liable to assessment to Income Tax.
The Commissioners found as facts:-
-
(i) that the account stood in the Appellant's own name as an individual;
-
(ii) that the account was an omnibus account;
-
(iii) that the onus of distinguishing whether the sums credited to the account were income or capital rested upon the Appellant, but he had made no endeavour to do so;
-
(iv) that the remittances were made to him personally and were income; and they accordingly confirmed the assessments.
Held, that, as the Appellant had refused to disclose the facts necessary to establish his contentions, the evidence before the Commissioners was sufficient to support the conclusions of fact at which they had arrived and the Court could not, therefore, question those findings.
At a meeting of the Commissioners for the General Purposes of the Income Tax Acts and for executing the Acts relating to the Inhabited House Duties for the County of Selkirk, held at Selkirk on 6th June, 1917, and at an adjourned meeting of the said Commissioners also held at Selkirk on 15th August, 1917, Charles William Schulze, Brunswickhill, Galashiels, appealed against assessments made on him by the Additional Commissioners of Income Tax under Schedule D for the four years 1912-13, 1913-14, 1914-15, and 1915-16, in
respect of foreign possessions; the liability being on the average remitted to this country during the three preceding years as regards the years 1912-13 and 1913-14, and on the average of the three preceding years' accrued income for the years 1914-15 and 1915-16. The assessments were as follows, viz., for 1912-13, £1,118; for 1913-14, £2,348; for 1914-15, £4,000; and for 1915-16, £4,000. The assessments were made under Section 100, case 5, of 5 and 6 Vict., cap. 35, and Section 2 of 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 34. The Appellant claimed that he was not liable in any assessment, as the sums imported by him were capital sums borrowed by him as an individual, and not interest.I. The following facts were admitted or proved:-
-
1. The Appellant for many years carried on business in this country as a tweed merchant, &c., under the firm name or style of William Schulze & Co., at Galashiels, from which business he retired a number of years ago and now resides at Brunswickhill, Galashiels.
-
2. For a number of years a bank account at Trieste with the K.K. priv. Oesterreichischen Credit-Anstalt has been kept in his own name as an individual.
-
3. From time to time he has drawn from said bank account various sums of money. The sums of money were transmitted to him on his requisition, either by letter or telegram, and were made payable to him according to instructions issued by him to the bank at Trieste.
-
4. His income tax returns have disclosed no income from such sources.
-
5. The Additional Commissioners, in pursuance of the powers conferred on them under Section 113 of the Act 5 and 6 Vict., cap. 35, and in view of the information afforded them by the Surveyor, made assessments on...
To continue reading
Request your trial