811.512341Shipping/33

The British Ambassador (Howard) to the Secretary of State

No. 1148

Sir: With reference to my Note of November 18th, I now have the honour to transmit herewith for your information copy of an Order of His Majesty the King in Council, dated November 7th, 1924, and taking effect from that date, regarding the arrangement with your government for the reciprocal exemption of shipping profits from income tax.

I have [etc.]

Esme Howard
[Enclosure]

British Order in Council, November 7, 1924

Whereas it is provided by subsection (1) of section eighteen of the Finance Act, 1923, that if His Majesty in Council is pleased to declare—

(a)
that any profits or gains arising from the business of shipping which are chargeable to British income tax are also chargeable to income tax payable under the law in force in any foreign state; and
(b)
that arrangements, as specified in the declaration, have been made with the government of that foreign state with a view to the granting of relief in cases where such profits and gains are chargeable both to British income tax and to the income tax payable in the foreign state;

then, unless and until the declaration is revoked by His Majesty in Council, the arrangements specified therein shall, so far as they relate to the relief to be granted from British income tax, have effect as if enacted in that Act, but only if and so long as the arrangements, so far as they relate to the relief to be granted from the income tax payable in the foreign state, have the effect of law in the foreign state:

And whereas it is provided by section two hundred and thirteen of the Act of Congress of the United States of America known as the Revenue Act of 1921, that the term “gross income”, for the purpose of income tax chargeable under the law of the United States of America, shall not include the income of a non-resident alien or foreign corporation which consists exclusively of earnings derived from the operation of a ship or ships documented under the laws of a foreign country which grants an equivalent exemption to citizens of the United States and to corporations organised in the United States:

And whereas His Majesty’s Government have intimated to the Government of the United States of America that they propose to take the necessary steps under the said section eighteen of the Finance [Page 271] Act, 1923, for providing that any profits accruing from the business of shipping carried on with ships documented under the laws of the United States to a citizen of the United States resident outside the United Kingdom or to a corporation organised in the United States shall be, and as from the first day of May, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, be deemed to have been, exempt from income tax (including super-tax) chargeable in the United Kingdom:

And whereas the Government of the United States of America have signified to His Majesty’s Government that they are prepared to regard the exemption to be provided as aforesaid as an equivalent exemption within the meaning of section two hundred and thirteen of the Act of Congress of the United States known as the Revenue Act of 1921:

Now, therefore, His Majesty is pleased, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, to declare, and it is hereby declared—

(a)
that certain profits or gains arising from the business of shipping which are chargeable to British income tax are also chargeable to the income tax payable under the law in force in the United States of America; and
(b)
that the arrangements aforesaid have been made with a view to the granting of relief in cases where profits or gains arising from the business of shipping are chargeable both to British income tax and to the income tax payable in the United States of America.

And His Majesty is further pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, that this Declaration may be cited as The Relief from Double Income Tax on Shipping Profits (United States of America) Declaration, 1924.

M. P. A. Hankey