Finance (No. 2) Act 1945

Section 35.

FIFTH SCHEDULE Section 24 of the Finance Act, 1923, as applied with adaptations to Excess Profits Tax and the National Defence Contribution.

(1) If any person who has paid tax charged under an assessment to excess profits tax or to the national defence contribution alleges that the assessment was excessive by reason of some error or mistake in a return or statement made by him for the purposes of the assessment, he may, at any time before such date as Parliament may hereafter determine, make an application in writing to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for relief.

(2) On receiving any such application the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall inquire into the matter and shall, subject to the provisions of this section, give by way of repayment such relief in respect of the error or mistake as is reasonable and just :

Provided that no relief shall be given under this section in respect of an error or mistake as to the basis on which the liability of the applicant ought to have been computed where the return or statement was in fact made on the basis or in accordance with the practice generally prevailing at the time when the return or statement was made.

(4) Any person who is aggrieved by the determination of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue on an application made by him under this section may, on giving notice in writing to those Commissioners within twenty-one days after the notification to him of their determination, appeal to the Special Commissioners.

(5) The Special Commissioners shall thereupon hear and determine the appeal in like manner as in the case of an appeal to them against an assessment under Schedule D, and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to such an appeal (including the provisions relating to the statement of a case for the opinion of the High Court on a point of law) shall apply accordingly with any necessary modifications :

Provided that neither the appellant nor the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall be entitled to require a case to be stated for the opinion of the High Court otherwise than on a point of law arising in connection with the computation of profits or the computation of capital.