| 21/8/2008 |
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| Court of Appeal - Decisions in Income Tax Cases |
| Case No: 78 |
Decided on 27 April 1973 |
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Amounts Of Income Received In Malta By A New Resident As Against 'any Sum' Transferred Out Of Malta
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The taxpayer was a foreign national who was entitled to special tax treatment if he imported into Malta a certain minimum amount of income. In calculating whether this minimum had been reached, however, there had to be deducted 'any sum transferred out of Malta'.
In the year in question the taxpayer imported the required minimum amount of income, but he also brought in a larger sum as capital intended to be used for building purposes. When this plan fell through, he re-exported the capital sum. The Revenue held that this constituted 'any sum transferred out of Malta' for the purpose of the above provision. The taxpayer contended that this was an unacceptable confusion of income and capital when there was no taxation of capital in Malta. Furthermore, he contended that he had been misled by propaganda leaflets prepared by Government to attract people to come to reside in Malta. His tax benefits were refused.
The Board and the Court held that the law was rather strange, but clear enough. 'Any sum' meant exactly what it said, and it was pointed out that this wording had been changed during the debate in Parliament when the law was being considered to make it clear that not only the remittance abroad of income had to be taken into account, but also the remittance of any money: 'any sum'. The Court and the Board also refused to give any importance to what the publicity leaflets may have stated, as they were not technical in nature, and could not change the law.
BSC Case No: 5/68
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