R v Board of Referees (ex parte Calor Gas (Distributing) Company, Ltd)
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 February 1954 |
| Date | 01 February 1954 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION)-
Excess Profits Tax - Terminal Expenses - Change in identity of group of companies - Allowance of relief by Commissioners of Inland Revenue - Whether right of appeal to Board of Referees against Commissioners' decision - Finance Act, 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. VI, c. 64), Sections 37 and 39 and Ninth Schedule.
Calor Gas (Distributing) Co., Ltd., made a claim for relief from Excess Profits Tax under the provisions of the Finance Act, 1946, in respect of expenditure on deferred repairs incurred by the Company during the period 1st January, 1947, to 31st July, 1951.
The Company was a member of a group of companies within the meaning of Sections 37 (9), 39 (3) and 39 (4), Finance Act, 1946, throughout the period but a change in the identity of the group had taken place on 21st December, 1948. Accordingly, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue left out of account, in determining the relief due under Section 37, expenses incurred after 21st December, 1948, but in the exercise of their discretion under Section 39 (4) allowed certain relief in respect of that expenditure.
The Company appealed to the Board of Referees, contending that the Commissioners had allowed insufficient relief in respect of expenditure incurred after 21st December, 1948. The Board held that they had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal against an allowance of relief by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue under Section 39 (4). The Company applied for an Order of Mandamus directing the Board of Referees to hear and determine the appeal.
In the Queen's Bench Division the application was dismissed.
The case was argued before the Queen's Bench Divisional Court (Lord Goddard, C.J., and Cassels and Byrne, JJ.) on 1st February, 1954, when judgment was given unanimously against the Applicant, with costs.
Lord Goddard, C.J.-We need not trouble you, Mr. Solicitor.
In this case Mr. Bucher moves for mandamus directed to the Board of Referees to hear and determine an appeal which his clients, Calor Gas (Distributing) Co. seek to bring against the determination of the Board of Inland Revenue which they had given under Section 39 (4) of the Finance Act of 1946. The only thing which surprises me in the case at all is that it is a case arising under the Finance Acts, and that the position seems to me to be perfectly clear and simple.
The matter arises in this way: Under the Finance Act of...
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