| Benefits Code I and Exemptions and Exclusions |
7 |
In Tennant v Smith10 the taxpayer was agent for the Bank of Scotland at Montrose. He had to occupy the bank house as custodian for the whole premises belonging to the Bank, and also to transact any special bank business after bank hours. He was not allowed to vacate the house even for a temporary period unless he had the special consent of the directors, who sanctioned the occupation of the house by another official of the bank during the agent’s absence. The agent had to lock up the bank and attend to the security of the safe. There was a night bolt from the agent’s bedroom to the bank’s premises. The agent was not allowed to sublet the bank house nor to use it for any purpose other than the bank’s business. The bank house was suitable accommodation for him but, as Lord Macnaghten observed, ‘his occupation is that of a servant and not the less so because the bank thinks proper to provide for gentlemen in his position in their service accommodation on a liberal scale’.11 His total income from other sources came to £375 and the value of his occupation of these premises was placed at £50. Where a taxpayer’s income was below £400 he was entitled to an abatement.12 The House of Lords held that the agent was not assessable under schedules D or E13 in respect of his occupation of the premises and so was entitled to the abatement. Lord Halsbury stated that the thing sought to be taxed ‘is not income unless it can be turned to money’.14 The agent’s occupation of the premises was not capable of being converted into money since he could not let it.15 |