Successions and amalgamations
8. (1) As from the date of any change in the persons carrying on a business, the business shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be deemed for all the purposes of this Act except for the purposes of determining the amount of the statutory percentage to have been discontinued, and a new business to have been commenced.
(2) Where the change took place before the 1st day of September, 1939, and consisted in the death or retirement of a partner, or the taking in of a partner, the persons carrying on the business after the change may, by notice given in writing before the prescribed date to the Excess Profits Tax Officer, elect that, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of standard profits, the business shall not be deemed to have been discontinued.
(3) A business shall not, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of standard profits, be deemed to be discontinued by reason of any change occurring on or after the 1st day of September, 1939, in the persons carrying it on, and the standard profits of the business in relation to any chargeable accounting period shall be computed accordingly, and, in particular, in computing the capital employed in the business after the change and in considering, for the purposes of computing the profits of, and the capital employed during, any chargeable accounting period, whether any and, if so, what deductions are to be made in respect of depreciation of buildings, plant and machinery, no regard shall be had to any consideration given in respect of the transfer of the business or any of the assets thereof on the occasion of the change.
(4) Where, on or after the 1st day of September, 1939, two or more businesses are amalgamated, the resulting business shall be treated for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of standard profits as if-
(a) it had been in existence throughout the period during which there were in existence any of the former businesses;
(b) any profits made or losses incurred or capital employed in any of those former businesses had been made, incurred or employed in the resulting business; and
(c) any assets of any of those former businesses had become assets of the resulting business when they became assets of the former business;
and, in particular, in computing the capital employed in the resulting business, and in considering, for the purposes of computing the profits of, and the capital, employed during, any chargeable accounting period, whether any and, if so, what deductions are to be made in respect of depreciation of buildings, plant and machinery, no regard shall be had to any consideration given in respect of the transfer of any of those former businesses or any of the assets thereof on the occasion of the amalgamation.
(5) Where, on or after the 1st day of September, 1939, part of a business is transferred as a going concern by the person theretofore carrying it on to another person, the part transferred and the part not transferred shall each be deemed for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of standard profits to be a continuation of the original business, and the said provisions, including the provisions of this section relating to amalgamations, shall apply accordingly:
Provided that, for the purposes aforesaid, such apportionments shall be made of the profits made, and losses incurred, and the capital employed, in the original business, and of any assets of the original business as may appear to the Excess Profits Tax Officer, or on appeal in the prescribed time and manner to the Board of Referees, to that Board to be just.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, where a business was carried on immediately before the 1st day of April, 1936, and that business, or the main part of that business, was transferred after the said day and before the 1st day of September, 1939, by the person carrying it on to another person, the Excess Profits Tax Officer, if he is satisfied that the business carried on after the transference was not substantially different from the business or part transferred, shall, on the application of the person carrying on the business after the transference, treat that person, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of standard profits, as if he had carried on the transferred business or part of the business as from the date of the commencement of that business.
(7) Where, on or after the 1st day of September, 1939, a partner in a firm carrying on a business to which this Act applies dies, then notwithstanding anything contained in sub section (1) any deficiency of profits in respect of any chargeable accounting period ending on or before the date of his death shall, if it has not been fully applied in reducing the profits of any chargeable accounting period under section 7, be carried forward and applied in reducing any profits from the same business carried on by the surviving partner or partners in the first chargeable accounting period after the death of the partner, and if and so far as it exceeds the amount of those profits, in reducing any profits from such business in the next subsequent chargeable accounting period and so on.
(8) Where-
(a) a business is, by virtue of sub section (2) or sub section (3), deemed not to have been discontinued; or
(b) a business is, by virtue of sub section (4), to be treated as if it had been in existence throughout the period during which there was in existence any other business; or
(c) a business is, by virtue of sub section (5), to be treated as a continuation of another business; or
(d) any person who is carrying on a business after a transfer is treated, by virtue of sub section (6), as having carried on the business as from a date before the transfer,
the provisions of this Act relating to the computation of profits and capital for the purposes of excess profits tax shall, both as respects the standard period and any chargeable accounting period, have effect subject to such modifications, if any, as the Excess Profits Tax Officer may think just, and the Excess Profits Tax Officer may make such alterations in the periods which would otherwise be the chargeable accounting periods of the business as he thinks proper:
Provided that if the Excess Profits Tax Officer makes any such modifications and the person carrying on the business is dissatisfied with the modifications so made, or if the person carrying on the business is dissatisfied with the refusal of the
Excess Profits Tax Officer to make any such modifications, he may, at any time before the expiry of forty five days from the date on which the order of the Excess Profits Tax Officer is communicated to him, appeal to the Board of Referees through the Excess Profits Tax Officer.