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Irish Tax Case Reports
The Council raised with the Revenue Commissioners
the question of the publications of decisions of the
Appeal Commissioners and the Circuit Court on appeal
from the Appeal Commissioners of decisions in income
tax cases. It is recognised that the hearing of the cases
by the Appeals Commissioners and by the Circuit
Court on appeal for them are confidential and it was
suggested that the reports of such cases should be
restricted to the legal questions involved without dis-
closing the names of the parties or any material infor-
mation regarding the facts which could lead to identi-
fication of the parties. It is generally recognised that as
the taxpayer is presumed to know the law it is inequit-
able that there should be a body of secret law consisting
of decisions of the Appeals Commissioners and of the
Circuit Court which are known only to the Revenue
Commissioners and are not available to the taxpayer.
It was, therefore, suggested that subject to appropriate
safeguards the relevant facts and the legal decisions on
the facts should be made available in the form of
authorised reports. Tax should be made available in the
form of authorised reports. Tax cases heard in the
High Court and the Supreme Court are, of course,
included in the authorised reports and are available
as published.
The attitude of the Revenue Commissioners is that
decisions in the Circuit Court on the rehearing of
income tax appeals are not available. The Income Tax
Acts direct that rehearings of appeals by the Circuit
Court must be heard in camera and there is no auth-
ority in law for full publication of decisions of these
hearings. Income tax appeals are first heard by the
Appeal Commissioners but the acts provide that an
appellant aggrieved by the Appeal Commissioners'
determination may require that his appeal may be re-
heard by a Judge of the Circuit Court. On the question
of publishing edited reports (to conceal the identity of
the taxpayer) of Circuit Court Judges' decisions the
Revenue Commissioners would feel constrained to
accept the view expressed in the seventh report of the
Commission on Income Taxation (Pr. 6581) in relation
to the publication of decisions by the Appeal (then
Special) Commissioners. In paragraph 780 of that re-
port the commission regarded "it as undesirable to
publish even on a limited scale any decisions of the
Special Commissioners on tax appeals".
In relation to tax cases heard in the High Court and
the Supreme Court the Commissioners arrange for the
publication of tax leaflets of reported decisions. Leaflets
are issued to subscribers only on payment of an annual
subscription (35p) to the Controller, Stationery Office,
Beggar's Bush, Dublin 4. While no leaflets have been
published in recent years a number are at present being
prepared for printing. Leaflets issued for cases decided
up to 1948 are available in bound volumes of "Reports
of Income Tax Cases", volumes I and II. These were
published by the Stationery Office and may be purchased
from the Government Publications Sales Office, GPO
Arcade, Dublin 1. A third volume of issued leaflets is
being prepared for the printers.
With respect to the views expressed in the seventh
report of the Commission on Income Taxation the
Council cannot regard this position as satisfactory.
There seems to be no valid reason in principle why the
decisions of the Appeals Commissioners and of the
Circuit Court on further appeals should not be pub-
lished. These are part of the law of the land which
the taxpayer is deemed to know. The result of these
decisions is known to the Revenue Commissioners but
not to the taxpayer which creates an inequitable im-
balance where a taxpayer's rights are involved. The
position regarding the delay in publication of the tax
leaflets is also unsatisfactory. Further representations
are being made to the Revenue Commissioners on this
matter.
Provisional assessments of Estate Duty
—The Estate Duty Office has requested the Society to
inform its members that the new provisional pre-grant
assessment of estate duties scheme which is in operation
since August is working reasonably smoothly. Owing to
a lack of trained staff the Estate Duty Office are com-
pletely unable to come to a prompt final assessment of
duty in any case. Where solicitors attempt to get a final
assessment before taking out a grant they are finding
themselves delayed considerably because of the shortage
of staff. Solicitors should bear in mind that the provi-
sional assessment of estate duty is provisional on both
sides and that any solicitor who feels too much duty has
been assessed will be perfectly entitled to claim a refund
just as the Estate Duty Office would be entitled in a
proper case to increase the amount of duty assessed
after the grant is extracted.
In order to keep the system of provisional pre-grant
assessments running smoothly solicitors are requested to
accept the provisional nature of the assessment as to do
otherwise would mean upsetting the routine now estab-
lished in the Estate Duty Office.
It is to be hoped that the Estate Duty Office will
improve as time goes on by securing a properly-trained
staff.
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