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APPROPRIATION ACCOUNTS: 1924-25.

APPROPRIATION ACCOUNTS OF THE SUMS GRANTED BY PARLIAMENT FOR REVENUE DEPARTMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 1925, TOGETHER WITH THE REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL THEREON AND UPON REVENUE AND CERTAIN STORE ACCOUNTS. (In continuation of House of Commons Paper No. 16, 1925.)

(Presented pursuant to Act 29 & 30 Vict. c. 39, s. 22,
and 11 & 12 Geo. V., c. 52, s. 2 and 4.)

Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed,
4th February 1926.

LONDON:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE

To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses:
Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W.1;
York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

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REVENUE DEPARTMENTS,

APPROPRIATION ACCOUNTS, 1924-25

REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL.

Out-turn for the Year.

1. It will be seen from the Abstract on pages 10 and 11 that the net amount to be surrendered on the Votes for Revenue Departments is 402,9281. -s. 1d., made up as follows:

Gross Expenditure:

Estimated

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Net total for surrender, being 0.6 per

cent. of the Supply Grant

Store Accounts.

£402,928 1

2. A test examination has been applied by my officers, with satisfactory results, to the Store accounts of the three Departments.

Revenue Accounts.

3. A test examination of the Revenue accounts of the three Departments has been carried out in London and at various provincial centres, with satisfactory results.

Pensions (Increase) Acts 1920 and 1924.-Erroneous Increases

of Pension.

4. Part II of the Schedule to the Pensions (Increase) Act 1920 provides that :

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'Where an existing pension granted on or after the 4th day of August 1914 is larger than a pre-war pension by reason of an improvement in the pension scale or an increase in the pensionable emoluments made since that date, the pension shall not be increased under. this Act by an amount greater than is sufficient to make the increased pension equal to the amount to which the pre-war pension might have been increased under Part 1 of this Schedule."

(20085A)

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In the course of the examination of the increases granted to Post Office pensioners under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1924, which augmented certain of the increases authorized by the Pensions (Increase) Act 1920, it was noticed that the above restriction had been ignored in the calculation both of the original increases under the 1920 Act and of the further increases under the later Act, with the result that a considerable number of pensioners have been overpaid during the last five years.

In reply to my request for an explanation I am informed that future payments will be made on the right basis, and that the matter of dealing with past over-issues is under consideration by the Treasury. The overpayments in 1924-25 remain charged against the Superannuation Subhead.

I understand that a similar procedure is being followed in connexion with overpayments of a like character which have been charged against the Customs and Excise Vote, and the Vote for Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Class VI. Vote 1). I refer to the overpayments charged against the last mentioned Vote in my Report on the Civil Services Appropriation Accounts 1924-25.

VOTE 1-CUSTOMS AND EXCISE.

Remissions.

5. The return furnished in accordance with the directions contained in Treasury Minute of 31 December 1897 shows that there have been no cases during the year of extra-statutory remission of duty or abandonment of claim on account of revenue which involve a loss of 50l. and upwards.

Treasury Control.

6. During the year under review the Treasury agreed to extend to the Customs and Excise Department the discretion allowed to other Departments to settle claims for compensation for damage done by vessels employed by the Department, viz. :—

(1) Claims may be settled up to a maximum payment of 1007. in any case without reference to the Treasury.

(2) Claims involving payments between 100l. and 500l. may be settled by the Department if no important question of principle arises, subject to the submission of a quarterly schedule of payments, with explanatory notes, for the covering authority of the Treasury.

(3) Claims involving payments exceeding 500l. should be submitted for the prior authority of the Treasury.

Hitherto the Department had been authorized to make payment in settlement of such claims, without reference to the Treasury, up to a limit of 30L.

VOTE 2-INLAND REVENUE.

Remissions.

7. I have been furnished by the Board of Inland Revenue with a schedule of the several cases, involving a loss of 50l. and upwards, in which claims for duty or interest receivable under the Revenue Acts were remitted during the year ended 31 March 1925, without statutory authority, from motives of compassion or equity arising out of particular circumstances in individual cases. The reasons given for remission appear on examination to be satisfactory. The total of the amounts shown as having been remitted during the year is 788,9201. 6s. 4d., as compared with 515,6291. 5s. 1d. in 1923-24, and 349,018l. 4s. 4d. in 1922-23. The greater part of the sum remitted was on account of Income Tax and Inhabited House Duty. 722,3561. related to 176 cases in which (a) there was no real liability, or the liability was too doubtful to make it advisable to take legal proceedings for the recovery of the duty, or (b) estates were in bankruptcy or liquidation, and the duty was given up under the regulations made between the Inland Revenue and the Board of Trade, or upon the ground of the prospect of recovery being insufficient to justify proceedings; 25,0217. related to 145 cases of poverty, and 27,5841. to 84 cases of assessment on salaries, interest or directors' fees, which the Board of Inland Revenue were satisfied would never be paid.

Securities accepted in discharge of Income Tax.

8. In the course of my examination of these securities it was observed that a number of fully paid 10s. shares in a certain Company, which had been accepted at par value in December 1920 in discharge of Income Tax on arrears of debenture interest, had been sold in March 1925 at 31d. each.

As the shares in question had been quoted on the Stock Exchange on various dates in 1923 at prices considerably in excess of their par value I inquired why they had not been sold at that time, and requested that the principles and procedure regulating the sale or retention of shares accepted by the Board in similar circumstances might be stated.

I have recently been informed in reply that the shares should have been realized on reaching par, and that the failure to do so was due to an error of judgment on the part of the officer concerned; that the general arrangements for dealing with securities have been for some time under further review; and that it is hoped, in consultation with the Treasury, to put the matter on a more precise and formal footing.

Over-repayment of Excess Profits Duty.

9. Owing to an oversight on the part of an official at Somerset House, an erroneous repayment of 8,000l. was made in March 1922 in respect of Excess Profits Duty. An application for refund was refused, and the Board of Inland Revenue, upon legal advice, decided in January 1925 to take no further action in the matter.

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