, 1865-05-08


The act of March 3, 1865, provides thst
each person Of lawful ago is required to make
return en- OF before the first day Of MAY.
"fn such form and manner as may be pre-
scribed BY the Commissioner o! Internal Key
enue,n of the amount Of his or her income,
gains and psofts," between the first dsy OF
January and the thlrty-frst day OF December,
1861, inclusive It you'd seem from tbs Ian
guage used in the act Of March s, 1866. that
there is penalty affixed to refusal or ne
glect to usc this prescribed '.torm." as Wel1as
to the ofense Of rendering fraudulent lister
return. The law Is explicit that each person
must not only make return, but must make
it " in such form and manner as may bs pre-
scElbed By the Commissioner
4 contemporary TINS states the law: Con-
g1ess has provided that the Assistant Asses
sor may Increase the amount Of the i1c3re re-
turn Ct any person, "if he has reason 10 be-
1ieTe that the aatae Is underssated !" aud, It
ne thlnks the return % be fraudulent, 0; til
fully false, he shall add one hundred PER CEN
fun, as penalty to the amount Of tax ascey-
tained by him to be due. Thus, the Assist
ant Assessor need not impose penalty for
undelstatement Of amotz1t Of income unless
! be thinks the same Was made knowingly and
with intent to evade payment Of legal tax.
1fany person is dissatisfied with the decision
Of the Assistant Assessor he may appeal to
the Asse ssor, and from him to the Comm1s-
sioner. The tax act OF 1866 makes no proYi-
sion Tor any further appeal but, Of course,
anybody OF whom the ax-collector makes an
illegal claim, under color Of law, can protest
against the payment, warn the Collector not
to pay the money into the treasury, and then
sue him in the courts to recover back the ex-
cess and in this suit the courts would pass
upon the actsof the Assistant Assessors ,sAs-
SCISSORS. and the Commissioner.
We have alluded to cases Of PERSONS making
returns on or hafora tha frat, aud to those
mixing false returns. There Is still remain
ing the class fpersons who falsd to make a
inflic!s penalty Of additional tax Of twenty.
five per centum, sin all cases of ,oMfM tine
glect or refusal to make return On Or before
the first Monday in May" but, ne mfr
from letter OF the Commissioner to Wilcox,
IN Assessor in Maine, that the Treasury De-
partment has decided that negleet even after
"1cUtul," until the Assistant Assessor calls
upon persons In delault, and, in person, asks
for his Or her return, In such case, the per- |
son asked must furnish the return at oncs, or
he Or she will be deemed willfully In default, |
and Liable to the twenty-five per centum pen |
atty: Il, on the other. hand, tue person in de- |
fault Is not at home, or at his or her usual |
place Of business, when the assistant ASSESSOR
calls, then the Assessor must give him or her |
ten days t. make the return, before penalty |
can be inflicted.
II, therefore, It be q case Of more careless
neglect, It would seem that before the AS
tant Collector can iuttict penalty he must
in person cali for the delinquent, at his or
her house, 'or place Of business and, If not
found, must servc written notice, with |
blank forms, aud then wait ten days.
It appears clear from the act of March,
1865, that the penalty of one hundred per |
centum additional can only be Inflicted in |
case Of q false or fraudulent return actually
made. II anybody sees tit to neglect, or re-
fuBe to make any return whatever, he has a
legal right to do 80, but the act OF Congress |
provides that in such case the Assessor, or AS
s:stapt Assessor, shall examine such dt1ln-
quent, bis books, and accounts, or any other
evidence, and as.ertain the amount OF his
income, assess the tax thereon, and add
twenty live per centum 70 - SUCH tar, "in ali
cases OF wi,ltul neglect or refusal" The
law has armed the, Assessors with ample pow
er to compel the production Of books aud
papers. In the net Of June 80, 1861, there
Eas penalty Of f1nc or imprisonment, At
he discretion Of the court, inflicted on per
IONS refusing to answer the interrogatorics
# IN Assessor, OF to produce such books and
,apeis as should be demanded.