(1)No post-war refund shall be made to any person unless such undertakings and authorities are given as are specified in the next following section, being undertakings and authorities in connection with the use of the net amount of the refund for the purposes of a specified trade or business, being such-a trade or business as is mentioned in subsection (2) of this section:
Provided that undertakings and authorities may be given as aforesaid in connection with the use of part only of the said amount and shall, if so given, operate to authorise the payment of-a corresponding part of the refund, and references in this and the three next folio wing, sections td the refund and the net amount of the refund shall be construed accordingly.
(2)A trade or business may be specified under subsection (1) of this section if it is either—
(a)the original trade or business; or
(b)a trade or business carried on or to be carried on by the person who carried on the original trade or business in the relevant chargeable accounting periods, or, where that person is an individual, by him or by a relative of his; or
(c)a trade or business in which the said person, or, where the said person is an individual, he or a relative of his, has or is to have an interest which is substantial in relation to the size of the trade or business:
Provided that in considering whether the interest of a person in a trade or business is substantial, any interest acquired by or for him in consideration of the making over, to the persons who are carrying on or are to carry on that trade or business, of the whole or any part of the post-war refund in question shall be left out of account.
In this subsection, the expression " a relative " means, in relation to a person, that person's husband or wife, or a son, daughter, brother or sister of that person or of that person's husband or wife or deceased husband or deceased wife, and for the purposes of this definition the expressions " son " and " daughter " include an adopted son or adopted daughter (whether adopted under the [16 & 17 Geo. 5. c. 29.] Adoption of Children Act, 1926, or under the [20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 37.] Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930, or otherwise) and an illegitimate son or illegitimate daughter, and the expressions " brother " and " sister " include a half-brother or half-sister.
(3)A trade or business shall be treated for the purposes of this and the three next following sections as continuing to be the same trade or business notwithstanding, any change in the persons carrying it on.
(1)Where the trade or business specified under subsection (1) of the last preceding section is or is to be carried on by the person to whom the post-war refund is paid, and is not, or, as the case may be, is not to be, carried on by him in partnership with any other person, the undertakings shall comprise an undertaking by him that—
(a)the net amount of the refund will be used in developing or re-equipping the trade or business and, until so used, will be so dealt with as to remain available , for use, .when required, in developing or re-equipping of the trade or business; and
(b)without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provision, any part of the said net amount which is not so used shall not be directly or indirectly distributed by way of dividend or cash bonus or capitalized for the purpose of issuing bonus shares or debentures or releasing any liability for uncalled share capital or applied, whether by way of remuneration, drawings, loans or otherwise, for the benefit of partners, shareholders or proprietors.
(2)In any other case, the undertakings shall comprise—
(a)an undertaking by the person to whom the post-war refund is paid that the net amount of the refund will be made over to the person carrying on the specified trade or business; and
(b)such undertakings as are mentioned in the preceding subsection by the person to whom the said net amount is to be made over.
(3)Where any such undertakings are given, every person who gives any of the undertakings shall, in "addition—
(a)give an undertaking to furnish, on the demand of the Treasury, or the advisory panel or referee hereinafter mentioned, to any person authorised by the Treasury, the said panel or the said referee, as the case may be, such accounts or other information as may be specified in the demand, being accounts or information required for the purpose of establishing how the said net amount has been dealt with;
(b)give to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue an authority (which shall be irrevocable) to disclose for the said purpose any documents or other information in their possession to the Treasury or the said panel or the said referee or any person authorised by them as aforesaid respectively.
(4)Any undertaking or authority given under any of the preceding provisions of this section by the persons carrying on a trade or business shall be in writing, shall be in such form as may be prescribed by the Treasury and shall, by virtue of this section, be binding on all persons who, at any time within the five years next following the date of the giving of the undertaking, carry on that trade or business either alone or in partnership with any other person.
(1)Subject to the provisions of the next following section, if—
(a)the whole or any part of the said net amount, is dealt with by any person in breach of an undertaking given by him or which, by virtue of the last preceding section is binding upon him; or
(b)any breach is committed by any person of an under taking given by him, or binding on him as aforesaid, to produce documents or information required to be produced in connection with the whole or any part of the said net amount; or
(c)the trade or business specified in any such under taking as aforesaid is permanently discontinued within the five years next following the date of the giving of the undertaking, and, at .the date of the discontinuance, the whole or any part of the said net amount has not been used for developing or re-equipping the trade or business,
the said net amount or that part thereof, as the case may be, shall be recoverable from the person who committed the breach of the undertaking or, as the case may be, the person who was carrying on the trade or business immediately before the discontinuance thereof, as a debt due to the Crown:
Provided that no sum shall be recoverable under this subsection by reason of the permanent discontinuance of the trade or business if the like undertakings and authorities are given and approved in connection with the use of that sum as would be required to be given and approved if that sum were the net amount of a post-war refund in respect of the original trade or business payable to the person who was carrying on the specified trade or business immediately before the discontinuance, and the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act, and of the next following section shall, with the necessary adaptations, have effect accordingly in relation to those undertakings and authorities, so, however, that the references in the said provisions to the five years next following the date of the giving of the undertaking shall be construed as references to the five years next following the date of the giving of the undertaking given in connection with the original refund.
(2)Subject to the provisions of this subsection, where any sum becomes recoverable under this section from any body corporate by reason of the breach of any undertaking given by or binding on that body corporate, the body corporate and every person who, when the breach was committed, was, or was purporting to act as, a director of the body corporate, shall be jointly and severally liable to the Crown for that sum:
Provided that no person shall be under any liability under this subsection by reason that he was or purported to act as a director of a body corporate, if he proves that the breach in question was committed without his knowledge or against his will and that, in either case, he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the breach.
(1)The Treasury may appoint—
(a)an advisory panel consisting of such persons as the Treasury think fit; and
(b)a referee,
to exercise such functions as are specified in this section in relation to them respectively.
(2)Where—
(a)the whole or any part of the net amount of a refund is not to be paid to the person who carried on the original trade or business in the relevant chargeable accounting periods, or is not to be used for the purposes of the original trade or business; or
(b)there has, since the end of the relevant chargeable accounting periods, been any change in the persons by whom the original trade or business is carried on,
no refund shall be paid unless the undertakings and authorities required in relation to the payment thereof under the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act are approved by the advisory panel, and, without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provision, the panel shall not, where the said net amount is, under the undertakings, to be made over to any other person by the person to whom the refund is made, approve the undertakings and authorities unless they are satisfied that the terms on which the amount is to be made over are proper having regard to the provisions of this Part of this Act.
(3)It shall be the duty of the advisory panel, in such cases and at such times as they think fit, to enquire how the net amount of any post-war refund has been dealt with, and, if, in the opinion of the panel, any part of the said net amount has, under the last preceding section, become due to the Crown, to report to the Treasury accordingly, and no sum shah" be so recoverable unless the panel have so reported in respect thereof.
(4)Any person aggrieved by any refusal of the panel to approve any undertakings and authorities or by any report of the panel under this section may, within such time and in such manner as the Treasury may prescribe, appeal to the referee.
(5)On any such appeal the referee shall- give to the appellant and to the Treasury an opportunity of being heard, and shall hear such evidence, on oath or otherwise, as the appellant and the Treasury desire to put before him, and shall, after such further inquiry, if any, as he thinks fit, decide the question, and his decision on any matters arising on the appeal shall be final and conclusive for all purposes:
Provided that where proceedings are brought in any court for the recovery of any sum from a person on the ground that, when a breach of an undertaking was committed by a body corporate, he was or purported to act as a director of that body corporate, nothing in this subsection shall preclude that person from contending in those proceedings that the breach was committed without his knowledge or against his will and that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the breach.