Finance Act 1938
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1938 c. 46 |
| Year | 1938 |
Finance Act, 1938
(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) 46.
An Act to grant certain duties of Customs and Inland Revenue (including Excise), to alter other duties, and to amend the law relating to Customs and Inland Revenue (including Excise) and the National Debt, and to make further provision in connection with finance.
[29th July 1938]
Most Gracious Sovereign,
W E, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled, towards raising the necessary supplies to defray Your Majesty's public expenses, and making an addition to the public revenue, have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto Your Majesty the several duties hereinafter mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and 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.
Customs and Excise.
1 Increase of customs duty on hydrocarbon oils.
(1) The rate of the customs duty chargeable under section two of the Finance Act, 1928 , on hydrocarbon oils shall be increased from eightpence per gallon to ninepence per gallon.
(2) The rate of any rebate allowed under subsection (3) of the said section on the delivery for home consumption of any oils other than light oils shall be increased from sevenpence per gallon to eightpence per gallon.
(3) This section shall be deemed to have had effect as from six o'clock in the evening on the twenty-sixth day of April nineteen hundred and thirty-eight.
2 Preference for home produced oils.
(1) During the period of twelve years from the passing of this Act, the preference in respect of—
(a ) light oils manufactured in the United Kingdom from indigenous materials (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘home produced light oils’); and
(b ) heavy oils manufactured as aforesaid and used in the United Kingdom as road fuel (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘home produced road fuel oils’);
shall not be less than the appropriate rate per gallon for the time being in force.
(2) For the purposes of this section—
(a ) the appropriate rate shall be—
(i) for the period ending on the fifth day of May nineteen hundred and forty-two, eightpence;
(ii) for the remainder of the said twelve years, eightpence, subject to any adjustments made in accordance with Part I of the First Schedule to this Act;
(b ) the expression ‘preference’ in respect of home produced light oils means—
(i) so long as no excise duty is payable in respect of home produced light oils, the rate per gallon of the customs duty payable in the United Kingdom on light oils;
(c ) the expression ‘preference’ in respect of home produced road fuel oils means—
(i) so long as no excise duty is payable in respect of home produced road fuel oils, the rate per gallon of the customs duty payable in the United Kingdom on heavy oils used as road fuel;
(ii) if during the said twelve years any such excise duty is payable, the difference between the rate per gallon of the excise duty so payable and the rate per gallon of the customs duty payable as aforesaid;
(d ) the expression ‘light oils’ has the same meaning as in subsection (3) of section two of the Finance Act, 1928, except that it does not include turpentine;
(e ) the expression ‘heavy oils’ has the same meaning as in section two of the Finance Act, 1935 ;
(f ) the expression ‘indigenous materials’ means coal, shale or peat indigenous to the United Kingdom, or products produced from those substances;
(g ) the expression ‘road fuel’ means fuel for mechanically propelled vehicles constructed or adapted for use on roads;
and in the First Schedule to this Act the expressions ‘light oils,’‘heavy oils’, ‘indigenous materials’ and ‘road fuel’ have the meanings respectively assigned to them by the last four foregoing paragraphs.
(3) The provisions of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of supplementing the provisions of this section and Part I of that Schedule.
(4) The British Hydrocarbon Oils Production Act, 1934 , shall cease to have effect.
3 Excise duty on power methylated spirits.
(1) There shall be charged, on all spirits used for making power methylated spirits, a duty of excise of ninepence for every gallon of the spirits so used.
(2) The duty charged under this section shall be paid by the methylator immediately after the spirits have been used as aforesaid.
(3) There shall be allowed—
(a ) on the exportation of any power methylated spirits from the United Kingdom; or
(b ) on the shipment, or deposit in a bonded warehouse, of any such spirits for use as ships' stores; or
(c ) on the loading into any aircraft of any such spirits for use on a voyage to a place outside the United Kingdom;
a drawback equal to the amount of the duty shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have been paid under this section in respect of the spirits.
(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be deemed to have had effect as from the second day of May nineteen hundred and thirty-eight.
(5) The power of the Commissioners to make regulations with respect to methylated spirits under section sixteen of the Finance Act, 1921 , shall include power to make regulations for securing the payment of the duty charged under this section.
(6) In this section the expression ‘power methylated spirits’ means spirits methylated in the manner prescribed for making power methylated spirits by regulations for the time being in force under section thirteen of the Finance Act, 1924 (which enables the Commissioners to prescribe what substances are to be mixed with spirits for the purpose of making power methylated spirits).
4 Relief of fishing-boats and lifeboats from duties on oil and power methylated spirits.
(1) Subsection (8) of section two of the Finance Act, 1928 (which provides for repayment of duty paid in respect of hydrocarbon oil used on fishing-boats) shall be extended as follows—
(a ) an application may be made under the said subsection by the master instead of the owner of a fishing-boat;
(b ) a fishing-boat entered in the fishing-boat register shall be treated as a fishing-boat within the meaning of the said subsection if it is used for the purposes of fishing by any person gaining a substantial part of his livelihood by fishing, whether that person is the owner of the boat or not.
(2) The said subsection (8) and section seven of the Finance Act, 1930 (which provides for repayment of duty paid in respect of hydrocarbon oil used on lifeboats) shall be extended so as to apply to duty paid in respect of power methylated spirits as they apply to duty paid in respect of hydrocarbon oil.
5 Increased customs duties on tea.
(1) The duties of customs chargeable on tea under section one of the Finance Act, 1936 , shall be at the following increased rates, that is to say:—
| Tea not being an Empire product | the lb. 8 d. |
| Tea being an Empire product | the lb. 6 d. |
(2) This section shall be deemed to have had effect as from the twenty-seventh day of April nineteen hundred and thirty-eight.
6 Amendment as respects duties on motor cars, musical instruments, clocks, films, &c.
(1) As from the appointed day, section three of the Finance Act, 1925 (which imposes duties on motor cars, musical instruments, clocks, films, &c.) shall be repealed, and accordingly the enactments (which amend or relate to that section) set out in the Second Schedule to this Act shall also be repealed as from that day to the extent specified in the third column of that schedule.
(2) The Treasury shall by order direct that as from the appointed day—
(a ) there shall be charged under section three of the Import Duties Act, 1932 , on all goods to which this section applies (except mouth-organs), an additional duty of such an amount as will, with the general ad valorem duty, amount to the rate of the duty chargeable thereon immediately before the appointed day under section three of the Finance Act, 1925; and
(b ) drawback of the duty or duties chargeable under Part I of the Import Duties Act, 1932, shall be allowed under the Second Schedule to that Act in respect of all goods to which this section applies.
(3) For the purpose of any order for the time being in force (whether made under the last foregoing subsection or otherwise) providing for the allowance of drawback of any duty or duties chargeable under Part I of the Import Duties Act, 1932, in respect of any goods to which this section applies, any duty paid in respect of any such goods before the appointed day under section three of the Finance Act, 1925, shall be deemed to have been chargeable under the said Part I.
(4) Section five of the Import Duties Act, 1932, and section two of the Ottawa Agreements Act, 1932 (which exempt Empire goods from the general ad valorem duty and any additional duty), shall not apply to any goods to which this section applies; but, as from the...
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