Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Becher
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 25 October 1940 |
| Date | 25 October 1940 |
| Court | King's Bench Division |
NO. 1168-HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (KING'S BENCH DIVISION)-
Sur-tax - Deduction - Payments under deed of covenant - power of revocation - Finance Act, 1938 (1 & 2 Geo. VI, c. 46), Section 38 and Part II of the Third Schedule.
Under a deed of 3rd August, 1937, the Respondent covenanted to pay to trustees to be held in trust for her daughter (who was over the age of 21) monthly sums during the joint lives of herself and her daughter or such shorter period as she should thereafter fix by deed executed with the consent of one at least of the trustees. The said monthly sums were duly paid throughout the year 1937-38. On 19th April, 1938, the Respondent revoked the deed.
On appeal against an assessment to Sur-tax for 1937-38 the Respondent claimed a deduction in respect of the monthly sums paid under the deed for that year.
Held, that the provisions of Section 38 of the Finance Act, 1938, applied to a settlement revoked in 1938 before the passing of the Act and that the Respondent was accordingly not entitled to the deduction claimed.
Stated by the Commissioners for the Special Purposes of the Income Tax Acts under the Income Tax Act, 1918, Section 149, and Section 42(7) of the Finance Act, 1927, for the opinion of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice.
1. At a meeting of the Commissioners for the Special Purposes of the Income Tax Acts held on the 7th November, 1939, for the purpose of hearing appeals, the Hon. Dame Constance Becher (hereinafter called "the Respondent") appealed against an assessment to Sur-tax in the sum of £6,784 for the year ending 5th April, 1938, made upon her under the provisions of the Income Tax Acts.
2. The sole question at issue in this appeal is whether in computing the Respondent's liability to Sur-tax for the said year she was entitled to deduct certain monthly sums paid by her to trustees on behalf of her daughter (who is over the age of twenty-one years) in the circumstances hereinafter appearing.
3. By deed dated the 3rd day of August, 1937, the Respondent covenanted with trustees that she would during the period during which both she and her daughter, Miss Rosemary Becher, should be living, or such shorter period as she should thereafter fix by deed under her hand and seal executed with the consent of one at least of the trustees, pay to the said trustees to be held by them in trust for her said daughter, Rosemary Becher, a monthly sum of such amount as after...
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