ONE RETURN ONLY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19044, 18 June 1936, Page 14

ONE RETURN ONLY

EMPLOYMENT TAX

ASSESSED LIKE INCOME TAX CHANGES IN THE LAW Now that assessment and collection of the employment tax is the function of the Commissioner of Taxes, the necessity for submitting two separate returns of income, for employment tax and income tax purposes will in clue course disappear, but the collection of the tax will still be made through the post office, (he. Minister of habonr, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, explains in a. memorandum giving explanatory notes on the Employment Promotion Act, which came into force on June 1, consolidated and concentrating'in one Act the provisions dealing with ' assistance to persons out of employment and the promoting of additional' employment, which have hitherto been scattered through the Unemployment Act, 1930, the Amendment Acts of 1931, 1932 and 1934, and' sundry Finance Acts.

The Unemployment Board being abolished, the administration of the Employment Promotion Act is vested in the Department of Labour, under the control of the Minister of Labour. The section of the Unemployment Amendment Act, 1931, which allowed amounts paid as unemployment tax as a special exemption for. i income-, tax purposes has not been reproduced in the present Act. The Government considers that the proper place for such a provision is in the Land and Income Tax Act, and the Government may yet decide to proceed with the appropriate amendment of that Act.

APPORTIONMENT OF INCOME Where income received in advance is apportioned over one or more years by the Commissioner of Taxes for income tax purposes, that apportionment now automatically becomes operative for employment tax. Power was given previously, to make default assessments on persons who failed to make declarations of income or made faulty ones, but the complementary power to fix a' date by which objection to the default assessment could be lodged was omitted. One section adds the necessary power, and allows the commissioner discretionary power to accept, if he thinks fit. objections made after the time allowed has expired.

SUSTENANCE ALLOiWANCES Among the most important changes are those in the section dealing with the payment of sustenance 'allowances. The maximum rates fixed by the Lnemployment Act, 1930, have keen dropped and in lieu thereof a wide discretion has been given the Minister of Labour, who may, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance fix the rates to be paid from time to time. Tho only persons to whom allowances may not be paid are those under the age of 16 years and males over 20 years of age who are wholly exempt from liability for the registration levy. This represents an improvement in that sustenance may now be paid to males between the ages of 16 and 20 where considered desirable, and to women.

EXEMPTIONS TO ELDERLY PEOPLE

The exemption from the employment charge granted by regulation to males over the age of 65 years and females over the age of 60, whose income for the year did not exceed' £IC4, has been included in the Act, and has been extended by a sub-section which states that where the income of such persons is just over the limit of £lO4 per annum, the amount of tax payable will be reduced so that the net income received by that person will not be reduced below £lO4. The same exemption is allowed to people who satisfy the commissioner that through physical or mental disability they are unable to follow any regular employment and whose income for the year did not exceed the figure of £IC4The rate of tax payable is 8d in the fi. The rate may be varied by O'rder-in-Council, but may not be increased beyond one penny in every l one shilling and eightpence (Is in the £).