Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Elcock
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 29 October 1953 |
| Date | 29 October 1953 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (QUEEN's BENCH DIVISION)-
Surtax - Failure to furnish particulars required by the Special Commissioners - Amount of penalty - Finance Act, 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. V, c. 17), Section 22.
The Special Commissioners issued notices to the Defendant, under Section 22, Finance Act, 1922, requiring him to furnish particulars of the several sources of his income and the amount arising from each source for each of the seven years 1942-43 to 1948-49. The Defendant failed to comply with the notices. The Section provides in case of default for a "penalty not exceeding fifty pounds" and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue claimed a penalty of £50 for each default.
The Defendant admitted that he was liable under the Section but submitted that the maximum penalty prescribed by the Section should be imposed only in the worst cases and that some penalty less than the maximum should be imposed in the circumstances of his case.
Held, that, while it was open to the Court to consider the appropriate penalty to impose, subject to the statutory maximum, there was no reason why the maximum penalty should not be imposed in the present case.
The case came before Sellers, J., in the Queen's Bench Division on 29th October, 1953, when judgment was given for the amount claimed, with costs.
Sellers, J.-In this case the Commissioners of Inland Revenue claim the sum of £350 from the Defendant, William George Elcock, and the claim is made up of penalties alleged to have been incurred under Section 22 of the Finance Act, 1922, as amended by Section 42 (10) of the Finance Act, 1927. That Section of the Finance Act, 1922, reads as follows:
(1) The Special Commissioners may, whether an assessment to super-tax has been made or not, require any individual who has been required to make a return of his total income for the purposes of super-tax to furnish to them within such time as they may prescribe, not being less than twenty-eight days, such particulars as to the several sources of his income and the amount arising from each source, and as to the nature and the amount of any deductions claimed to be allowed therefrom, as they consider necessary. (2) If any person without reasonable excuse fails to furnish within the time prescribed any particulars required under 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...
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