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Volume 13 First Supplement

Publication Date: Jan 1999

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DIGEST OF CASES REPORTED

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  Decision No. Download
PENALTY TAX    

failure by a director to report chargeability to salaries tax - voluntary disclosure and invite the Commissioner to issue additional salaries tax assessments - imposition of additional tax may only be made by the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner personally - this power cannot be delegated to any other person - whether the Second Notice in this case is a valid notice - voluntary disclosure is a good mitigating factor - tariff rate for simple omission of income - s 82A of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D15/98 Download D15/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D15/98 (PDF) EN - English

failure by a resigned employee to report chargeability to salaries tax - whether omission by the taxpayer was a genuine honest mistake - what factor(s) regard as reasonable excuse for omission - not every slip of the mind constitute a reasonable excuse for such omission - a matter of degree - look at all the circumstances of the case to decide whether the taxpayer had reasonable excuse - duty to make a full, complete, accurate and correct return - 10% penalty under s 82A of Inland Revenue Ordinance - inflation is not a good reason for increasing the percentage under s 82A of IRO  

D14/98 Download D14/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D14/98 (PDF) EN - English

incomplete - a financial statement signed by only one director - whether reasonable excuse - ss 51(1) and 82A of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D23/98 Download D23/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D23/98 (PDF) EN - English

incorrect salaries tax return - failure to disclose director's fees and bonus received on 2 July 1996 in the tax return for the year of assessment 1995/96 - whether monies taxable when received or when entitlement to them established - whether a reasonable excuse existed under s 82A Inland Revenue Ordinance - demeanour of the taxpayer - 10% penalty under s 82A Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D46/98 Download D46/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D46/98 (PDF) EN - English
PROFITS TAX    

acquisition and sale of property - intention of purchaser at time of acquisition - burden of proof on purchaser - whether tax chargeable on the profits of sale - s 68(4) Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D54/98 Download D54/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D54/98 (PDF) EN - English

acquisition and sale of property - intention of purchaser at time of acquisition - burden of proof on purchaser - whether tax chargeable on the profits of sale - s 68(4) Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D52/98 Download D52/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D52/98 (PDF) EN - English

acquisition of property - intention of purchaser at time of acquisition - burden of proof on purchaser - taxability of proceeds - s 16(1) Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D48/98 Download D48/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D48/98 (PDF) EN - English

loss arose from trading in foreign currencies - deductible - whether taxpayer had been carrying on a trade or business - s 14(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, Chapter 112  

D42/98 Download D42/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D42/98 (PDF) EN - English

profits arising from sale of property - investment or trade - intention at the time of acquisition - Inland Revenue Ordinance ss 68(4), 70  

D28/98 Download D28/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D28/98 (PDF) EN - English

purchase and sale of residential property under construction - whether profits derived from the sale of a property assessable to profits tax - intention at the time of acquisition - whether quick sale indicative of an intention to trade  

D30/98 Download D30/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D30/98 (PDF) EN - English

real property - intention at the time of purchase - whether liable for profits tax - s 68(4) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D17/98 Download D17/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D17/98 (PDF) EN - English

rebuilding allowance - whether intention 'realistic or realisable' - whether liable to profits tax - s 68(4) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D19/98 Download D19/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D19/98 (PDF) EN - English

sale of property - whether profits derived from the sale of the property assessable to profits tax - whether intention at the time of acquisition 'genuinely held, realistic and realisable'  

D20/98 Download D20/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D20/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether profits derived from the sale of a property assessable to profits tax  

D12/98 Download D12/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D12/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether profits derived from the sale of three properties assessable to profits tax  

D13/98 Download D13/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D13/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether property acquired for the purpose of long term investment  

D24/98 Download D24/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D24/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether rental income or license fee derived from car parking space - ss 5(1), 5(2)(a) and 5B(2) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D27/98 Download D27/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D27/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether sale of the property a trading activity - whether the property was purchased for the purpose as a residence - Inland Revenue Ordinance ss 2 & 68(2B)  

D38/98 Download D38/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D38/98 (PDF) EN - English
SALARIES TAX    

allowable deductions - whether housing allowance was deductible - meaning of the word 'refund' under s 9(1A)(a)(ii) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance - whether entrance fee was deductible - s 12(1)(a) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance - whether medical expenses was deductible - discretion to order to pay cost - s 68(9) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D21/98 Download D21/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D21/98 (PDF) EN - English

assessable income - meaning - Civil Service Regulations 735 - mileage allowance in respect of home-to-office journeys - ss 12(1)(a), 12(1)(b), 11B, 11C and 11D of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, Chapter 112  

D39/98 Download D39/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D39/98 (PDF) EN - English

employment - source of income - whether liable to salaries tax - ss 8(1) and 8(1A)(b) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance  

D18/98 Download D18/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D18/98 (PDF) EN - English

retirement benefits under a company's internal pension scheme upon restructuring of the company's pension scheme - immediate re-employment on different terms - whether taxable - s 8 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, Chapter 112 - ss 31R(2)(a), 31Y(2), 31T(2) of the Employment Ordinance, Chapter 57  

D43/98 Download D43/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D43/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether payment described as 'long service payment' constituted long service payment within the meaning of the Employment Ordinance - whether liable to salaries tax - s 8 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance - ss 31R and 31T(2) of the Employment Ordinance  

D25/98 Download D25/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D25/98 (PDF) EN - English

whether payment from assets of staff provident fund and staff retirement plan subject to salaries tax - whether recognized occupational retirement schemes - Inland Revenue Ordinance ss 2, 8(1), 9(1), 87A - Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance s 2  

D33/98 Download D33/98 (DOC) EN - English Download D33/98 (PDF) EN - English

Note: The latest position of unsettled appeals is shown in either (a) Table of Appeals to Court of First Instance or (b) Table of Appeals to Court of Appeal/Court of Final Appeal. When the final outcome of an appeal is known, the position is set out in either table and will disappear in the next issue of Board of Review Decisions.

To view "Table of Appeals to Court of First Instance/Court of Appeal/Court of Final Appeal" (position as at 30.11.1998), please click here.