26. (1) If on an application made to it through the Excess Profits Tax Officer the National Board of Revenue is satisfied in the case of any business that special circumstances exist which render it inequitable that the standard profits of the business in relation to any chargeable accounting period should be computed in accordance with the provisions of sub section (1) of section 6, and that no relief or insufficient relief has been granted under the provisions of sub section (3) of that section, the National Board of Revenue may direct that the standard profits of the business shall be computed to be such greater amount as the National Board of Revenue thinks just:

Provided that such amount shall not exceed the statutory percentage of the average amount of the capital employed in the business unless the National Board of Revenue is satisfied that owing to some specific cause peculiar to the business it is just that a greater amount should be allowed and that the relief, if any, afforded by the Board of Referees under sub section (3) of section 6 is inadequate.

Provided further that a determination on an application under this sub section-

(a) shall have effect with respect to all subsequent chargeable accounting periods;

(b) shall exclude any further application under this sub-section.]

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub section (1) the National Board of Revenue shall, in considering the making of a direction under that sub section, have regard to the following circumstances, namely:

(a) that the capital employed in a business commenced on or after the 1st day of July, 1938, is so small in relation to the volume of the activities of the business that to compute the standard profits in accordance with the provisions of section 6 would be inequitable, taking into account the normal profits made in similar businesses;

(b) that owing to the nature of the business heavy expenditure by way of preliminary expenses or expenses in connection with experimental or development work has been incurred in accounting periods closely preceding the chargeable accounting period and that during the chargeable accounting period such expenditure would normally fall to be written off wholly or partly in the books of the person chargeable to excess profits tax;

(c) that the business is of a pioneer nature, that is to say, is concerned with an industrial process or a form of manufacture or production not undertaken in the taxable territories before the 1st day of April, 1932, and has not been in existence long enough to have paid income tax for the previous year as determined for the purpose of the income tax assessment for the year beginning on the 1st day of April, 1937.

(3) If on an application made to it through the Excess Profits Tax Officer the National Board of Revenue is satisfied that the computation in accordance with the provisions of Schedule I of the profits of a business during any chargeable accounting period would be inequitable, owing to any of the following circumstances, namely:-

(a) any postponement or suspension, as a consequence of the present hostilities, of renewals or repairs, or

(b) the provision of buildings, plant or machinery which will not be required for the purposes of the business after the termination of the present hostilities, or

(c) difficulties in bringing into the taxable territories income arising outside the taxable territories where the ¹[* * *] country in which the income accrued prohibits or restricts by its laws the remittance of money to the taxable territories, and loss in the remittance to the taxable territories of such income because of fluctuations in the rate of exchange between that ²[* * *] country and the taxable territories; or

(d) in the case of any business which includes the winning of any mineral (including mineral oil) the winning of which is of exceptional importance for the prosecution of the present war, an increase in the output of the mineral which was essential in the national interest and which has had the effect of shortening the period during which but for such increased wartime output the source of the mineral might have been expected to be exhausted;

the National Board of Revenue may direct that such allowances shall be made in computing the profits of the business during that chargeable accounting period as the National Board of Revenue thinks just:

Provided that in making such direction the National Board of Revenue may impose such conditions as it deems appropriate.

(4) An application to the National Board of Revenue under this section shall be presented to the Excess Profits Tax Officer before the expiry of the period specified in the notice issued under sub section (1) of section 13 or of the extended period allowed by the Excess Profits Tax Officer under the proviso to that subsection, but in the case of an application under sub section (1) of this section, if the person carrying on the business has made or is making an application under sub section (3) of section 6 the application shall be presented to the Excess Profits Tax Officer before the expiry of forty five days from the date on which the order of the Board of Referees disposing of the application under sub section (3) of section 6 is communicated to the person who has made that application.