WINDFALL FOR WIDOW

Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1932, Page 7

WINDFALL FOR WIDOW

REBATE OF INCOME TAX. SUM RECEIVED FROM ENGLAND. An aged Auckland widow is the recipient of an unexpected windfall in the shape of a rebate of British income tax amounting to over £7O. For 18 years she has been receiving an income of £52 a year from a legacy of British consolidated stock. The Bank of England deducted a standard amount in accordance with the British Income .Tax Act from the quarterly payments and remitted the net amount by draft. The widow was unaware, states the New Zealand Herald, that she was entitled to a rebate of the income tax.

Recently, when she decided to dispose of the consols, a legal adviser discovered that no rebate had ever been applied, for. With the consent of the widow 1 , the, necessary forms were sent to the chief inspector of taxes in England, and in due course a draft for £65 was received. The favourable exchange increased this amount by more than £5, making a total of over £7O, equivalent to about one and a-half years’ income from the consols. The fact that a maximum of six years is stipulated in regard to the application for arrears of rebate has prevented the widow from claiming a much larger sum than that which she actually received from England. Twelve years remain in the period during which she has been in possession of the consols without having applied for the rebate, and it is now too late to claim any of this money. A large sum must have been received by the British Government from income tax on these consols. Before being left to the widow, they were in the possession of a well-known Auckland family, and it is considered improbable that application was ever made for the return of any of the tax deducted by the Bank of England. For IS years the tax amounts to about £2OO.