The collector of internal revenue will retain the original on Form 471, and forward the duplicate, including part 4 thereof, to the collector of customs, who, upon receipt thereof, will deliver the spirits (upon which the customs duty and internal-revenue tax have been paid) to the importer. Further instructions will be given in regard to the manner of depositing the taxes collected on articles of merchandise coming from Porto Rico and to keeping a record of the stamps sold and taxes collected. G. W. WILSON, Commissioner. Approved: L. J. GAGE, Secretary of the Treasury. (110.) Collection of Porto Rican internal-revenue taxes. [Circular No. 56.—Int. Rev. No. 566.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, To collectors of internal revenue : Washington, D. C., April 25, 1900. It has been provided that on and after May 1, 1900, a tax upon articles of merchandise of Porto Rican manufacture coming into the United States and withdrawn for consumption or sale shall be collected equal to the internal-revenue tax imposed in the United States upon the like articles of merchandise of domestic manufacture, such tax to be paid by internal-revenue stamps. To carry out this law, you will sell internal-revenue stamps to importers upon their written or printed orders, made in duplicate, signed by them and indorsed by the collector of customs for the port by his signature following the word "Approved." One of the duplicate orders should be retained by the collector of customs for statistical and such other uses as may hereafter be determined, and he should see that stamps ordered are actually used on articles of Porto Rican manufacture. Before the stamps are delivered by you they should be stamped in red ink with the initial letters "P. R.," the letters to be of plain, boldfaced gothic type about three-eighths inch in height. In your accounts, you will treat these sales the same as any ordinary sales, but you will enter in any suitable stock book a record of all such sales, in order that it may be determined at any time the kind and value of stamps that have been sold on account of Porto Rican imports. You will forward a copy of this record with each quarterly collection account. The money for such sales should not be deposited with other funds, but should be deposited separately, "to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States on account of Porto Rican Internal-Revenue Collections," for which certificates of deposit in triplicate should be issued and disposed of as other certificates of deposit are. The words "Porto Rican" must not be omitted, as these words will be the distinguishing feature by which the collections "shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury, but shall be held as a separate fund, and shall be placed at the disposal of the President to be used for the government and benefit of Porto Rico." G. W. WILSON, Commissioner. Approved: L. J. GAGE, Secretary of the Treasury. (113.) Exportations to Porto Rico of articles subject to internal-revenue tax. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, To collectors of internal revenue: Washington, D. C., April 28, 1900. From and after May 1, 1900, under Treasury decision No. 22157, dated April 17, 1900, the following articles manufactured or produced in the United States can not be exported to Porto Rico in bond without the payment of tax, nor with the benefit of drawback as heretofore, viz: Distilled spirits, stills, and worms; tobacco, snuff, cigars, and cigarettes; fermented liquors; playing cards; oleomargarine; mixed flour; proprietary articles, medicines, bottled wine, and all other products named in Schedule B of the war-revenue act of June 13, 1898. (115.) G. W. WILSON, Commissioner. Stamp tax-Passage tickets. Exemption from stamp tax of passage tickets from ports in the United States to the island of Porto Rico. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., May 1, 1900. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, submitting the question whether, under the act of April 12, 1900, entitled "An Act Temporarily to provide revenues for the relief of the Island of Porto Rico, and for other purposes," passage tickets by any vessel from any port in the United States to Porto Rico are now taxable under Schedule A of the war-revenue act. In reply, you are advised that, in accordance with a previous ruling (see TREASURY DECISIONS, internal-revenue No. 107), it is held by this office that from and after this date Porto Rico is not to be considered as a foreign country within the meaning of Schedule A of the internal-revenue laws of the United States, and, therefore, passage tickets from any port in the United States to Porto Rico are exempt from the stamp tax. The United States internal-revenue laws, not having force and effect in the island of Porto Rico (see section 14, act of April 12, 1900), passage tickets from any port in Porto Rico to any foreign port, or from Porto Rico to any port in the United States, require no stamps under any law of the United States. Respectfully, G. W. WILSON, Commissioner. Mr. JAMES H. HAYDEN, Washington, D. C. (155.) Internal-revenue stamps on imports from Porto Rico. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, To collectors of internal revenue: Washington, D. C., June 18, 1900. The third paragraph of internal-revenue Circular No. 566 is hereby amended so as to require internal-revenue stamps that are to be used on imports from Porto Rico to be imprinted with the initial letters "P. R.," having a height of about three-fourths of the width of the stamp. The initials should be repeated, especially in the case of cigar stamps, in order that the imprinting may be conspicuous. Red ink should be used. G. W. WILSON, Commissioner. (203.) Stamp tax-Manifest for custom-house entry or clearance. Exemption of such instruments from the stamp tax when relating to vessels to or from ports in Porto Rico. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., August 18, 1900. SIR: Your letter of the 13th instant to Hon. O. L. Spaulding, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, has been referred to this office for answer. You ask in reference to the taxation of manifests for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of vessels for Cuban or Porto Rican ports. In reply, you are advised that this office has heretofore ruled that from and after May 1, 1900, Porto Rico is not to be considered as a foreign country within the meaning of Schedule A of the internal-revenue laws of the United States, and, therefore, manifests for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of any ship, vessel, or steamer to or from any port in Porto Rico are exempt from the stamp tax. In regard to the manifests for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of vessels from or for Cuba, the tax is to be collected, as the ports in Cuba remain foreign ports the same as they were on July 1, 1898, when the act took effect. Respectfully, ROBT. WILLIAMS, Jr., Acting Commissioner. Mr. ROBERT CARSON, Collector of Customs, Perth Amboy, N. J. (216.) Porto Rico. United States internal-revenue laws are not in force in Porto Rico. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., September 25, 1900. GENTLEMEN: In reply to your letter of the 24th instant, you are informed that the United States internal revenue laws are not in force in Porto Rico. Section 14 of the act entitled "An Act temporarily to provide revenues and a civil government for Porto Rico, and for other purposes," approved April 12, 1900, provides as follows: That the statutory laws of the United States not locally inapplicable, except as hereinbefore or hereinafter otherwise provided, shall have the same force and effect in Porto Rico as in the United States, except the internal-revenue laws, which, in view of the provisions of section three, shall not have force and effect in Porto Rico. SPECIAL-TAX DECISIONS. (119.) Preparation of the special assessment list for bankers. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, To collectors of internal revenue: Washington, D. O., May 5, 1900. Paragraph 9, Circular 554, provides for a special list, Form 23, for bankers, to be a special list for June and to be forwarded on or before the 10th day of July with the regular list for June, etc. It appears to be practically impossible to complete the special list for bankers before the 10th day of July, as bankers may make their returns without penalty as late as July 31. The following regulations are therefore substituted for those prescribed in paragraph 9, Circular 554. 1. Each collector will, on or before the 10th day of July, forward, with the original and duplicate of the regular list for June, the triplicate of the special list for bankers. The collections on this list made in June will be shown in detail in column 11, the heading of which will be changed to read "Supplemental bankers' list" for June, and all collections made in June will be entered therein on the proper line as provided in paragraph 1, Circular 554. The total of this column will be entered on line 3 (interlined), part 2, Form 23, after the words "Add amount of supplemental bankers' list for June, 1900." The total on line 5 of the receipt, part 2, Form 23, will include, besides the amount on line 31, the amount on line 3 for the month of May, and the amount on line 4 of the supplemental list for June (the regular list). As soon as the amount stated on line 3 of part 2, Form 231, for May, is found to agree with column 11 of the triplicate special assessment list for bankers, the triplicate will be returned to the collector to be retained by him. 2. The original and duplicate of the bankers' special list will, after July 31 and before August 10, be forwarded to this office with the regular list, Form 23, for July, and the collections on the bankers' list made in July will be included in line 31. and the collections on the regular list on line 4 of the collector's receipt, Form 23, will be entered as the collections made in June were entered on the next preceding list. 3. Where the original of the bankers' list, Form 23, for June is returned to the collector in August, after the assessments are made in August, it will be accompanied by a certificate, part 1 on Form 234, in duplicate, in which the whole amount assessed, less the amounts included on line 3, part 2, of the next two preceding receipts will be stated, and the collector will receipt for this amount on lines 3 and 5, part 2 of the Forms 23 so forwarded in August. |