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Revenue news - Late opening

24 January 2001
Issue: 3791 / Categories:
Revenue news
Late opening
As in previous years, some 300 Revenue offices across the country will remain open longer towards the end of January to receive last minute self-assessment tax returns and payments from taxpayers who have still to meet the 31 January deadline.
Details of the offices that are open and the opening times are available on the Inland Revenue Internet site at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk or by contacting the Self Assessment helpline on 0845 9000 444.
Revenue news
Late opening
As in previous years, some 300 Revenue offices across the country will remain open longer towards the end of January to receive last minute self-assessment tax returns and payments from taxpayers who have still to meet the 31 January deadline.
Details of the offices that are open and the opening times are available on the Inland Revenue Internet site at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk or by contacting the Self Assessment helpline on 0845 9000 444.
Paper copy returns delivered personally to the tax office post box before 7.30 am on 2 February 2001 have a reasonable excuse for lateness in accordance with Steeden v Carver (SpC 212). However, as such returns are actually filed after 31 January, the relevant enquiry window is extended by 3 months.
Those filing electronically must do so on 1 February to secure the same treatment as a paper return put in the Revenue's letter box by 7.30 am on the following day. An electronic return filed in the early hours of 2 February will incur a £100 late filing penalty unless there is some other reasonable excuse, or unless all tax liability for the year was paid by the due date.

Retail prices index
The value of the retail prices index for December 2000 is 172.2.

Wrongful loss compensation
The owners or heirs of assets wrongfully taken during the Nazi era and which are now in United Kingdom galleries and museums, will not have to pay any tax on payments they receive in recognition of their loss. A revised version of Extra-statutory Concession D50 which provides a capital gains tax exemption for certain payments in respect of property which has been confiscated or destroyed overseas has been published by the Revenue.
The concession already exempts from capital gains tax compensation:

* which derives from an overseas government for property lost or destroyed which is paid under a statutory order under the Foreign Compensation Act 1950; or
* paid by or on behalf of, or under arrangements provided by, a foreign government in circumstances directly analogous to those for which orders under the Foreign Compensation Act have been made.

This exemption is now being extended to cover payments made as a result of recommendations by the Government's Spoliation Advisory Panel or by any equivalent body set up outside the United Kingdom, or for payments made in settlement of a legal claim for return of confiscated property.
The revised concession applies to payments received on or after 18 January 2001 and to any case where payment was received before that date but where the liability thereon has not been finally determined.
The text of the revised concession follows.

'Treatment of Compensation
'This concession applies to certain capital sums received as compensation for the loss or deprivation of property which at the time of its confiscation, expropriation or destruction was situated outside the United Kingdom.
'A capital sum to which this concession applies shall not include any compensation payment made in respect of any property in consequence of statutory, contractual or other legal rights in force at the time that property was confiscated, expropriated or destroyed. Capital sums to which this concession applies are limited to payments made in recognition of, and in recompense for, the past loss or deprivation of the property in circumstances where no form of legal redress was then available to the owner. Loss or deprivation of property includes the disposal of property at less than market value by reason of a sale under duress.
'Capital sums to which this concession applies are those paid as compensation –

'* by virtue of statutory orders under the Foreign Compensation Act 1950 or under directly analogous arrangements set up by foreign governments;
'* in consequence of any recommendation of the Spoliation Advisory Panel or of any equivalent body set up outside the United Kingdom;
'* in settlement of legal claims, or by the order of any recognised court or legal tribunal with jurisdiction to cover such claims, to the effect that the original seizure of the property was wrongful and should be declared illegal.

'A capital sum to which this concession applies shall not be treated as giving rise to a chargeable gain on the person entitled to receive it provided such person –

'* was the owner of the property to which the compensation relates at the time it was confiscated, expropriated or destroyed; or
'* acquired the title, directly or indirectly, from the owner of the property at the time it was confiscated, expropriated or destroyed.

'This concession will not apply to exempt a capital sum paid as compensation in the circumstances described above where the person entitled to receive it has acquired, or derived the title from another person who has acquired, the right to receive that compensation for consideration in money or money's worth.
'In deciding whether this concession can apply to any person, transfers of assets or rights between husband and wife and within companies in the same group which have been treated as giving rise to neither a gain nor a loss under sections 58 and 171, Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 respectively, will be ignored.
'The value of the compensation received will be taken to be the amount paid in money or money's worth, in respect of the compensation claim under the arrangements for claims settlement. This value shall, where the compensation is in the form of an asset, be taken as the value at which the asset was acquired by the person entitled to the compensation for the purposes of computing any gain or loss on a subsequent disposal of the asset by that person.

'Offset for losses claimed
'If a capital gains allowable loss is or has been established as a consequence of:

'* the property having been confiscated, expropriated or destroyed; or
'* as a result of the abandonment or extinction of the rights in respect of which a claim for the compensation was established, this concession is not to apply to so much of the chargeable gain which would arise on the receipt of the compensation if this concession did not apply, as is equal to the allowable loss claimed.

'Date of application
'The concession in this form applies to compensation received on or after 20 December 2000 and to any case where compensation was received before that date but where the liability thereon was not finally determined before that date.'
(Source: Inland Revenue press release dated 18 January 2001.)

Double tax developments
The Double Taxation Convention between the United Kingdom and Norway, which was signed in London on 12 October 2000, entered into force on 21 December 2000. The text has been published as the Schedule to the Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Norway) Order 2000 (Statutory Instrument 2000 No 3247).
The provisions of the Convention will apply:

* in the United Kingdom, from 1 January for petroleum revenue tax, from 1 April 2001 for corporation tax and from 6 April 2001 for income tax and capital gains tax;
* in Norway, from 1 January 2001.

Negotiations
The United Kingdom and Australian Governments have agreed to negotiate a new double taxation convention to replace the existing agreement which was signed in 1967 and amended by a Protocol signed in 1980.
Representations are invited and should be sent as soon as possible to Mrs Jas Sahni at the address below or e-mailed to: Jas.Sahni@ir.gsi.gov.uk.
The United Kingdom has agreed with both Georgia and Qatar to hold discussions at official level about new comprehensive double taxation conventions. Representations are invited and should be sent as soon as possible to Mrs Ann Marsh, Inland Revenue International, Victory House, 30-34 Kingsway, London WC2B 6ES, e-mail: Ann.Marsh@ir.gsi.gov.uk.

Regulations
The Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Dividends, etc.) (Revocations) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/3330) were made on 19 December 2000 and came into force on 27 December 2000. They repeal the requirement on United Kingdom collecting agents to collect in certain circumstances Canadian and United States tax on dividends from those countries which are being paid to residents of third countries who are not entitled to a reduction in Canadian or United States withholding tax.
The repeal of the regulations on United States dividends took effect from 1 January 2001 (the date the new United States Qualified Intermediary Regulations took effect) and that of the regulations on Canadian dividends will take effect from 1 April 2001 (when the paying and collecting agents schemes are to be abolished).
(Source: Inland Revenue press release dated 17 January 2001.)



Issue: 3791 / Categories:
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