REVENUE CIRCULARS.

JUNE, 1870.

V. H. SCHALCH, ESQ., AND A. MONEY, Esq., C.B.

No. 1.

THE Board have observed that, in some instances, the information supplied by the Collector of Calcutta, respecting the Calcutta profits of persons and firms liable to assessment with Income Tax in the Mofussil, has been entirely ignored by the Assessors to whom it has been furnished. The proper course, when an Assessor doubts the correctness of the Collector of Calcutta's estimate, is to refer to him again, stating the grounds of doubt, and not to make the assessment till after receipt of his answer on such reference.

In any case, in which, after correspondence so held, an assessment is concluded which does not accord with the figures finally supplied by the Collector of Calcutta, a report of the circumstances will be immediately made by the Assessing Officer through the usual channel to the Board, with a view to enabling them to ascertain by fresh enquiry whether the estimate of the Calcutta Collector has been made upon accurate information.

All Assessing Officers will of course understand, that reports received from the Collector of Calcutta, during the past year, are not to be accepted as basis of assessment under the present Act, without further communication and enquiry.

No. 2.

THE following is added as Rule 22A., Section XVII, Chapter V, page 79 of the Board's Rules :-

22A. The upset price for the sale of confiscated Gunja shall be the rate of duty leviable on the drug.

1870

REV. CIR.

IN continuation of the Rules issued by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, for the guidance of all Officers engaged in carrying out Act XVI of 1870, the attention of District Officers is drawn to the orders of the Government of India in the Financial Department, published at page 1193 of the Calcutta Gazette, dated 8th June 1870, directing certain amendments to be made in Registers, Nos. 2 and 5, prescribed in para. 13 of the Financial Resolution, No. 2471, dated 8th April 1870.

No. 4.

THE following is to be added to Rule 5, page 16 of the Salt Manual:

"In the event of no offer being made sufficiently high to cover the Government duty, the salt, if not exceeding 5 seers, should be destroyed; if a larger quantity, the Board's orders should be applied for."

No. 5.

IN modification of Circular Order No. 13 of September 1869, the Board direct that the rule requiring the discharge of those peons who are unable to read and write shall not be put in force against old and deserving servants of Government, pending the issue of Rules for the regulation of Nazarut Establishments under the new Court Fees' Act.

No. 6.

THE special attention of District Officers is requested to the following remarks in the Resolution of Government, dated 16th May 1870, on the Board's Excise Administration Report for 1868-69:

Para. 6.-"The Lieutenant-Governor fears that, in many Dis❝tricts, Collectors are in the habit of disregarding the rule that "Licenses for the retail of Opium are free to all respectable per"sons, who wish to take out such a License. Facility of super

1870

"vision and control may be assigned as the reason for inattention "to the salutary rules on the subject, but it is overlooked that REV. CIR. "the creation of a monopoly, when competition is absent, tends

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directly to the injury of consumers, and compels them to resort "to the use of contraband Opium. The procedure at Bancoorah reported in the 31st para. (of the Board's Report) is a case in point, and the Lieutenant-Governor is not aware of any rule "which imposes upon acceptors of Opium Licenses the condition "of taking a madad license also."

2. With advertence to para. 9 of the Resolution, District Officers are requested to give their closest and most vigilant attention to the suppression of the illicit traffic in Opium.

3. The particular attention of District Officers and Excise Deputy Collectors is also directed to the Lieutenant-Governor's remarks in para. 10 of the Resolution. Excise Deputy Collectors are not only required to visit outlying Distilleries in their charge, but they should stay 2 or 3 days at each, in order to scrutinize the Darogah's Books, and to enquire in the neighbourhood as regards the sales of spirits in the vicinity of the Distillery.

No. 7.

THE following supplementary instructions are issued in connection with the monthly Return of operations under Part IV of the Income Tax Act XVI of 1870, prescribed in para. 16 of the rules issued by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, for the guidance of all officers engaged in carrying out the Act:

1. All fines must be shewn in the appropriate Realization Columns.

2. Column 9 should shew fines from the commencement of operations.

3. Columns 13 and 14 will always include the amount of Columns 21 and 22 respectively of the previous month's Return. 4. After "enhanced on objection" in direction A, add "after the end of the month."

5. Expunge Columns 3 and 8 from Explanation Form No. 2. The rest of the form will be blank, except in cases when an assessee, having paid up in one month before objection, has his class altered in the subsequent month on objection.

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6.

When an assessment, the amount of which has been paid,

is enhanced on objection, and the balance has not been paid during the month, the payment made should be credited under the higher class, the balance appearing in Column 26 for explanation.

7. When an assessment, the amount of which has been paid, is reduced on objection, but no refund is made during the month in which the assessment is changed, the sum paid, less the amount transferred, must be retained in the Realization Columns under the class in which it was originally assessed, and be added, in the explanation on the reverse of the Statement, to the balance shewn in Column 26.

No. 8.

WITH a view to allowing an opportunity to all persons who may be liable to assessment with income tax upon income accruing from property or business in more than one district, to object and adduce evidence in support of their objections to the estimates of their incomes framed by the Assessors of Districts, other than those in which their principal places of residence or business are situated, the Board direct that, whenever an Assessor shall, under the rules in force, have estimated the income accruing within his jurisdiction of any person or firm not liable to assessment by himself, he shall, before communicating the result of his enquiry to the Assessor of the District in which the party is taxable, serve a notice on the party, or his acknowledged local agent, apprising him of the estimate he has made of his profits, and telling him that such estimate will be forwarded to the Collector asking for it, unless within 15 days proof is brought forward to shew that it is an incorrect one.

In forwarding the necessary report in such cases to the Assessor by whom the party's assessment is to be finally determined, the Assessor who has held the enquiry shall invariably certify that the above rule has been attended to.

It is to be distinctly understood that the procedure now prescribed is of the nature of a preliminary investigation only, neither rigidly binding the officer entrusted with the duty of making the final settlement, nor allowing the party any appeal that is not otherwise open to him by law.

THE following addition is made to Chapter II, Section IV, page 23 of the Board's Rules :

"2A. Officers intending to procure supplies of any kind from other Government Officers, must make provision in their Budget Estimates precisely as if they intended to purchase in the open market. Whether the payments are actually made in cash or are adjusted by a debit to the Office supplied with the articles and a credit to the supplying Department, the necessity for making such provision is the same."

2. It is requested that these instructions may be borne in mind in preparing the Budget Estimates for the ensuing official year.

REV. CIR.

No. 10.

UNDER instructions from Government, attention is drawn to Clause 12 of Section 15, Act XVIII of 1869, which expressly declares that affidavits made for the sole purpose of enabling any person to receive any pension or charitable allowance, are not chargeable with stamp duty.

No. 11.

PARTICULAR attention is drawn to the provisions of Section 45, Act XVIII of 1869, and to the fact that no stamp can be either renewed or its value refunded, unless application be made within one year from date of purchase, as evidenced by the vendor's endorsement. Collectors have no power to grant refunds or renewals in excess of the limit laid down, as stated.

No. 12.

UNDER instructions from Government, District Officers are requested to submit, by as early a date as possible, Return No. XXIII-A., in three parts; the first, shewing original assessments under Act IX of 1869; the second, supplementary assessments