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6 1967

INCOME TAX ACT, 1967

Chapter II

Provision Against Double Assessment and Relief in Respect of Error or Mistake

Double assessment.

190. —(1) A person who, either on his own account, or on behalf of another person, has been assessed to tax, and is by any error or mistake again assessed for the same year for the same cause and on the same account, may apply to the Special Commissioners for relief, and the said Commissioners, on proof to their satisfaction of the double assessment, shall cause the said assessment, or so much thereof as constitutes a double assessment, to be vacated.

(2) If it appears to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that a person has been assessed more than once for the same cause and for the same year, they shall direct the whole, or such part of any assessment as appears to be an overcharge, to be vacated, and thereupon the same shall be vacated accordingly.

(3) If it is proved to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that any such double assessment as aforesaid has been made, and that payment has been made on both assessments, they shall order the amount of the overpayment to be repaid to the applicant.

Error or mistake.

191. —(1) If any person who has paid tax charged under an assessment to income tax made for any year under Schedule D or Schedule E alleges that the assessment was excessive by reason of some error or mistake in the return or statement made by him for the purposes of the assessment, he may, at any time not later than six years after the end of the year of assessment within which the assessment was made, make an application in writing to the Revenue Commissioners for relief.

(2) On receiving any such application the Revenue Commissioners shall inquire into the matter and shall, subject to the provisions of this section, give by way of repayment such relief (including any consequential relief from sur-tax) 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;

(3) In determining any application under this section the Revenue Commissioners shall have regard to all the relevant circumstances of the case, and in particular shall consider whether the granting of relief would result in the exclusion from charge to income tax or sur-tax of any part of the profits or income of the applicant, and for this purpose the Commissioners may take into consideration the liability of the applicant and assessments made on him in respect of other years.

(4) Any person who is aggrieved by the determination of the Revenue Commissioners 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 accordance with the principles to be followed by the Revenue Commissioners in determining the applications under this section, and subject thereto, in like manner as in the case of an appeal to them against an assessment under Schedule D or Schedule E, as the case may be, and the provisions of this Act relating to such an appeal (including the provisions relating to the rehearing of an appeal and 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 Revenue Commissioners 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 income.

(6) This section shall have effect, in relation to an assessment for a year earlier than the year 1960-61 if it was made before the 6th day of April, 1963, subject to the substitution in subsection (1) of “three years after the end of the year of assessment for” for “six years after the end of the year of assessment within”.