Finance Act 1967

Part I — Customs and Excise

Termination of surcharge under Finance Act 1961 s. 9 and related increases in duties.

1

Provisions as to continental shelf.

2

Disclosure of information by Commissioners.

3

Amendments as to excise licences for certain trades.

4

Abolition of retailer's licences and club licences and consequential provisions.

5

• (1) As from 1st October 1967, an excise licence shall not be required for the sale by retail of intoxicating liquor or for the supply of such liquor in a registered club to members of that club and their guests...

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) In this section the expression “registered club” means a club ... which is a registered club within the meaning of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976.

Abolition of permits for spirits and tobacco and consequential provisions.

6

Pool betting duty.

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (8) Paragraph 13(f) of Schedule 2 to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 (which requires the rules applying to any competition promoted by a registered pools promoter to be notified to the accountant appointed for the purpose by the registering authority before the first of the relevant sporting or other events takes place) shall have effect with the insertion after the word “notified” of the words “to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise and”; and if any such promoter is, under paragraph 29(2) of the said Schedule 2, guilty of an offence by reason of a failure to comply with the duty imposed on him by virtue of this subsection—

• (a) paragraph 29(3) of that Schedule (which empowers the registering authority to take proceedings for such an offence in England) shall not apply; but

• (b) sections 145 and 151 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (which relate respectively to the institution of proceedings and the application of penalties imposed and costs or, in Scotland, expenses awarded under the customs and excise Acts) shall apply in relation to that offence and to any fine imposed or costs or expenses awarded in connection therewith as if they were an offence or, as the case may be, a penalty imposed or costs or expenses awarded under the customs and excise Acts.

• (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Relief from purchase tax for certain imported goods.

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• (1) Where any goods or articles such as are mentioned in subsection (4) of section 21 of the Purchase Tax Act 1963 have been imported into the United Kingdom for a registered wholesale merchant as stock for his business or for a registered manufacturer as materials, the provisions of this section shall have effect for the purpose of giving relief from tax on any chargeable transaction in the United Kingdom after the importation of the goods or articles in lieu of the relief from tax on their importation which, but for the exception from chargeability to tax on importation contained in section 11 of that Act, would have been given under the said section 21.

• (2) If—

• (a) the importer makes application that relief be given from tax on the goods or articles on any such chargeable transaction; and

• (b) the Treasury are satisfied that, if the said exception had not been contained in the said section 11 and an application for relief had been made under subsection (1) of the said section 21, they would have given a direction under that subsection,

the Treasury may direct that tax shall not be payable on the goods or articles on any such transaction or, if it has already been paid, shall be repaid.

• (3) Subsections (2) and (3) of the said section 21 shall apply to any application or direction under subsection (2) of this section as they apply to any application or direction under subsection (1) of that section and as if the reference in the said subsection (3) to the tax of which the importer was relieved by a direction under the said subsection (1) included a reference to the tax from which relief was given by a direction under this section.

Purchase tax-vehicles acquired for export.

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• (1) If in the case of any vehicle in respect of which the tax which would otherwise be payable by the manufacturer is remitted under section 23(1) of the Purchase Tax Act 1963 (which relates to vehicles acquired for export)—

• (a) the vehicle is found in the United Kingdom after the date by which the Commissioners on granting the remission directed that it should be exported; or

• (b) any other condition imposed by the Commissioners under the said section 23(1) on granting the remission is not complied with,

and the presence of the vehicle in the United Kingdom after that date or the non-observance of that condition has not been authorised for the purposes of this section by the Commissioners, the tax which, but for the said section 23(1), would have been payable by the manufacturer shall become payable forthwith by the person by whom the vehicle was acquired from the manufacturer, or by any other person in whose possession the vehicle is found in the United Kingdom, and be recoverable as a debt due to Her Majesty unless, or except to the extent that, the Commissioners see fit to waive payment of the whole or part thereof, and the vehicle shall be liable to forfeiture under the Act of 1952.

• (2) Where a vehicle in respect of which tax has been remitted under the said section 23(1) has been exported but is subsequently brought back into the United Kingdom, then, without prejudice to subsection (1) of this section, the vehicle shall not when so brought back be treated for the purposes of section 11 of the said Act of 1963 as imported into the United Kingdom.

• (3) Section 23(2) of the said Act of 1963 (which imposes upon the manufacturer liability for tax in the event of non-observance of any conditions imposed under the said section 23(1)) shall cease to have effect.

• (4) This section shall come into force on such day as the Commissioners may by order made by statutory instrument appoint; and any such order shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.

Abolition of functions of Commissioners and officers of Customs and Excise with respect to grant of representation in the case of small estates.

10

Vehicles excise duty: increased penalties for evasion, and effect of transferring vehicle without licence.

11

• (1) The following provisions of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962—

• (a) section 7 (offence of using or keeping unlicensed vehicle),

• (b) section 10(4) (offence of failing to pay additional duty before using licensed vehicle so as to attract higher rate), and

• (c) section 12(9) (offence of exceeding number of vehicles authorised to be used by trade licence),

being provisions under which the person convicted is liable to an excise penalty of twenty pounds or, if greater, three times the duty there specified, shall be amended by substituting " fifty " for " twenty " and " five " for " three ".

This subsection shall not have effect in relation to offences committed before the passing of this Act.

• (2) Where a vehicle for which a licence is in force under that Act is transferred by the holder of the licence to another person, the licence shall be treated for the purposes of the said section 7 as no longer in force unless it is delivered to that other person with the vehicle.

Vehicles excise duty: additional liability for keeping unlicensed vehicle.

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• (1) Where a person convicted of an offence under section 7 of the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962 (using or keeping an unlicensed vehicle) is the person by whom the vehicle in respect of which the offence was committed was kept at the time it was committed, the court shall, in addition to any penalty which it may impose under that section, order him to pay an amount calculated in accordance with subsections (2) to (4) below.

• (2) The said amount shall, subject to subsection (3) below, be an amount equal to one-twelfth of the annual rate of duty appropriate to the vehicle in question for each calendar month or part of a calendar month in the relevant period, and the relevant period shall be one ending with the date of the offence and beginning—

• (a) if the person convicted has before that date notified the county council of his acquisition of the vehicle in accordance with regulations under the said Act of 1962, with the date on which the notification was received by the council or, if later, with the expiry of the licence last in force for the vehicle, or

• (b) in any other case, with the expiry of the licence last in force for the vehicle before the date of the offence or, if there has not at any time before that date been a licence in force for the vehicle, with the date on which the vehicle was first kept by that person:

Provided that, where the person convicted has been ordered to pay an amount under this section on the occasion of a previous conviction in respect of the same vehicle, and the offence then charged was committed after the date specified above for the beginning of the relevant period, that period shall begin instead with the calendar month immediately following that in which the former offence was committed.

• (3) Where the person convicted proves—

• (a) that throughout any month or part of a month comprised in the relevant period the vehicle in question was not kept by him, or was neither used nor kept by him on a public road in Great Britain, or was not chargeable with duty, or

• (b) that he has paid duty in respect of the vehicle for any such month or part, whether or not on a licence,

the said amount shall be calculated as if that month or part were not comprised in the relevant period.

• (4) In relation to any month or part of a month comprised in the relevant period, the reference in subsection (2) above to the annual rate of duty appropriate to the vehicle in question is a reference to the annual rate applicable to it at the beginning of that month or part; and, except so far as it is proved to have fallen within some other class or description for the whole of any such month or part, a vehicle shall be taken for the purposes of this section to have belonged throughout the relevant period to that class or description of vehicle to which it belonged for the purposes of duty at the date of the offence or, if the prosecution so elect, the date when a licence for it was last issued.

• (5) Where, on a person's conviction of an offence under the said section 7, an order is made under Part I of the Criminal Justice Act 1948 placing him on probation or discharging him absolutely or conditionally, the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply as if the conviction were deemed to be a conviction for all purposes.

• (6) In the foregoing provisions of this section " duty " and " licence " mean respectively the duty chargeable under, and a licence issued under, the said Act of 1962 or any enactment repealed by that Act, and any reference to the expiry of a licence includes a reference to its surrender, and to its being treated as no longer in force for the purposes of the said section 7 by virtue of section 11(2) above; and, in the case of a conviction for a continuing offence, the offence shall be taken for the purposes of those provisions to have been committed on the date or latest date to which the conviction relates.

• (7) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions (applying with the necessary modifications) of any enactment relating to the imposition of fines by magistrates' courts, other than one conferring a discretion as to their amount; and any sum payable by virtue of an order under this section shall be treated as a fine, and the order as a conviction, for the purposes of Part III of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 (including any enactment having effect as if contained in that Part) and of any other enactment relating to the recovery or application of sums ordered to be paid by magistrates' courts.

• (8) Any person who is alleged to have used a vehicle in contravention of the said section 7 shall, if required to do so by or on behalf of a chief officer of police or a county council, give such information as it is in his power to give as to the identity of the person by whom the vehicle was kept at the time, and a person failing to comply with a requirement under this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

• (9) This section shall not have effect in relation to any offence committed before the passing of this Act.

• (10) In its application to Scotland, this section shall have effect as if for subsections (5) and (7) there were substituted the following subsections respectively:—

(5) Where a person is convicted on indictment of, or is charged before a court of summary jurisdiction with, an offence under the said section 7, and an order is made under Part I of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949 discharging him absolutely or placing him on probation, the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply as if the conviction on indictment were a conviction for all purposes, or, as the case may be, the making of the order by the court of summary jurisdiction were a conviction.

(7) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions (applying with the necessary modifications) of any enactment relating to the imposition of fines by courts of summary jurisdiction, other than one conferring a discretion as to their amount; and any sum payable by virtue of an order under this section shall be treated as a fine, and the order as a conviction, for the purposes of any enactment relating to the recovery or application of sums ordered to be paid by courts of summary jurisdiction.

PART II — Income Tax

Charge of income tax for 1967-68.

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Income tax for the year 1967-68 shall be charged at the standard rate of 8s. 3d. in the pound, and in the case of an individual whose total income exceeds £2,000 at such higher rates in respect of the excess as Parliament may hereafter determine.

Surtax rates for 1966-67.

14

Income tax for the year 1966-67 shall be charged, in the case of an individual whose total income exceeded £2,000, in respect of the excess at rates in the pound which respectively exceed the standard rate by the amounts by which the higher rates for the year 1965-66, without the increase made by the next following section, exceeded the standard rate for that year (and so that the surtax rates applied by this section are the same as those applied successively for the years 1951-52 to 1964- 65).

Increase of surtax rates for 1965-66.

15

• (1) Section 18 of the Finance Act 1966 (surtax rates for 1965- 66) shall have effect as if each of the surtax rates applied by that section (that is to say, each of the amounts specified in the second column of the table in section 16(1) of the Finance Act 1951, being the surtax rates applied successively for the years 1951-52 to 1964-65) were increased by ten per cent.

• (2) The surtax charged by any assessment for the year 1965-66 made before 1st September 1967 and by reference to the rates applied by the said section 18 as originally enacted shall, unless by that date a further assessment has been made in respect of the tax attributable to subsection (1) above, be treated as from that date as varied in accordance with that subsection by virtue of this Act and without more.

• (3) In relation to so much of any surtax for the year 1965-66 as is attributable to subsection (1) above—

• (a) section 229(1) of the Income Tax Act 1952 (due date for payment of surtax by individuals), and section 249(4)(a) of that Act (date for recourse to company in respect of company surtax which a member has failed to pay) shall have effect as if for the references to 1st January (that is to say, 1st January 1967) there were substituted references to 1st September 1967, and

• (b) paragraph (b) of the said section 249(4) (date for recourse to member where company fails to pay) shall have effect as if for the reference to 2nd January (that is to say, 2nd January 1967) there were substituted a reference to 2nd September 1967.

• (4) The due date for payment of so much of any surtax for the year 1965-66 as is attributable to subsection (1) above shall also be taken to be 1st September 1967, instead of 1st January 1967, for the purposes of section 58(1) of the Finance Act 1960 (interest on tax recovered to make good loss due to taxpayer's fault).

• (5) For the purposes of section 495(3) of the Income Tax Act 1952 (interest on overdue tax charged by any assessment not to be payable unless the tax exceeds one thousand pounds) the tax charged by any assessment by virtue of subsection (2) above shall be treated as if it had been charged by an assessment separately made.

• (6) Sections 359 and 360 of the said Act of 1952 (recovery of tax attributable to wife's income) shall have effect in relation to the tax charged by any assessment by virtue of subsection (2) above as if it had been charged by an assessment separately made, as if that assessment had been made before the service of any notice for the year 1965-66 under subsection (1) of the said section 360, and with any other necessary modifications.

• (7) Section 236 of the said Act of 1952 (relief where surtax payer dies in year of assessment for which surtax rates are higher than for previous year) shall, as respects surtax for the year 1965-66, apply to a person who died after the end of that year but before 21st July 1966 as it applies to a person who died in that year.

• (8) Where surtax for the year 1965-66 has been assessed on any person in the name of a company which is dissolved before the end of September 1967 (and whether before or after the passing of this Act) and, the assessment having been made by reference to the rates applied for that year by section 18 of the Finance Act 1966 as originally enacted, a notice of charge under section 249(4) of the said Act of 1952 is served on that person for the additional tax attributable to subsection (1) above, the tax to which the notice relates shall become payable by that person, without any election under the said section 249(4), on whichever of the following is the latest, that is to say, 1st September 1967, the day after the service of the notice, and the day after the dissolution of the company.