Cap. 123 Art. 8Special provisions in respect of certain formerly undeclared income.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act and of the

Succession and Donation Duties Ordinance, hereinafter in this article referred to as "the Ordinance", or of the Death and Donation

Duty Act, the provisions of this article shall apply to any income omitted by any person from a return submitted by him to the

Commissioner before the 27th July, 1972 in respect of any year of assessment up to the year of assessment 1972 and to any income not returned to the Commissioner by the said date by any person who has not submitted a return for any year of assessment up to the year of assessment 1972; provided that there shall be excluded any such income -

(a) brought to charge to tax in any assessment -

(i) which became final and conclusive before the

27th July, 1972; or

(ii) which was raised by the Commissioner before the 27th July, 1972 on any person who was not domiciled in Malta during 1971; or

(b) which accrued to or was derived by any person who had no chargeable income for any year of assessment up to the year of assessment 1972.

(2) The income to which this article applies shall be determined by reference to any capital asset which existed on the 31st December, 1971, being an accumulation thereof or the source giving rise to the said income: the value of such asset on the said date being taken to be the cost of acquisition, or the actual amount or value thereof, whichever is the less.

(3) The income to which this article applies shall be deemed to be chargeable income for the year of assessment 1974, separate and distinct from any other chargeable income for the said year of assessment.

(4) The rate of tax applicable to the chargeable income herein contemplated shall be three cents (0.03) in the euro.

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Income Tax Acts, other than article 31 of the Income Tax Management Act, the Commissioner may at any time after the 1st October, 1972, raise an assessment on the chargeable income referred to in sub-article (3) and proceed for the collection of the tax due.

(6) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the income specified in sub-article (1) hereof unless the capital asset referred to in sub-article (2) is declared on the prescribed form which shall be filed with the Commissioner within nine months commencing from the 1st October, 1972.

(7) The declaration referred to in sub-article (6) hereof shall not be deemed to have been filed with the Commissioner unless the prescribed form is fully and accurately completed.

(8) Tax charged under the provisions of this article shall not be deemed to be part of any tax paid or payable under this Act for the purposes of articles 59, 76 and 89.

(9) No proceedings under this Act or under the Ordinance or under the Death and Donation Duty Act, shall be taken against any person in respect of the income referred to in sub-article (1) hereof, nor shall any fiscal penalty apply thereunder in respect of the said income, if the person in question was liable to have proceedings taken against him or to have a fiscal penalty applied by reason of any act or event happening before the 27th July, 1972.

(10) No tax or duty beyond the tax specified in sub-article (4) hereof shall be levied under this Act or under the Ordinance or under the Death and Donation Duty Act, on the income in respect of which immunity from proceedings is granted by sub-article (9) hereof.

(11) The provisions of sub-article (9) and (10) hereof shall apply to the duties, penalties and proceedings contemplated by the Ordinance or by the Death and Donation Duty Act, only in so far as the assets referred to in sub-article (2) -

(i) were left out from a notice in which they should have been declared for the purposes of the Ordinance if the said notice was filed with the Commissioner before the 27th July, 1972, or

(ii) were transmitted under a succession opening on the death of a person or on the taking of vows by a person in a monastic order outside Malta and no notice thereof was filed with the Commissioner before the 27th July, 1972: provided that the time limit set out in article 33(a)(iii) of the Ordinance for the filing of the said notice had lapsed before the said date, or

(iii) were transmitted under a gratuitous disposition and no notice thereof was filed with inter vivos the Commissioner before the 27th July, 1972, provided that the time limit set out in article 33(c) of the Ordinance for the filing of the said notice had lapsed before the said date.

(12) Nothing contained in this article shall apply to the duty charged under the Ordinance in respect of any assessment raised before the 27th of July, 1972.

(13) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this article, where the capital asset referred to in sub-article (2) remains undeclared by any person either in whole or in part within the period specified in sub-article (6) -

(a) the rate of tax set out in sub-article (4)(c) shall be substituted by the rate of thirty cents (0.30) in the euro in respect of such undeclared income or part thereof; and

(b) if such person is convicted on a charge that he has knowingly failed to declare the said capital asset, he shall be liable to a fine (multa) of not less than two hundred and thirty euro (230) and not exceeding two thousand and three hundred euro (2,300), and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(14) The amount of any levy paid under the Bearer Accounts Levy Act by the 31st of December, 1971, shall be deducted from any tax charged under the provisions of this article in respect of any holding in the relative bearer account and of any interest derived therefrom, so however that such deduction shall not exceed the tax chargeable under this article in respect of such holdings: Provided that nothing in this article contained shall be deemed to empower the Commissioner to charge to tax any holding in a bearer account with any bank except by way of an assessment raised on the person holding the title to such an account.

(15) Any person may elect by notice in writing filed with the Commissioner within the period specified in sub-article (6) hereof that the provisions of this article shall not apply to the income referred to in sub-article (1):

Provided that in such cases nothing in this Act contained shall prevent the Commissioner from raising an assessment on such income at any time in accordance with the provisions of the other articles of this Act.