ABSTRACTS OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS AND OPINIONS OF ATTORNEYS- From June 13, 1898, to December 31, 1904. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1905. /་་་/, INTRODUCTORY. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, July 1, 1905. The following Digest of Decisions and Regulations made by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue under the various acts of Congress relating to internal revenue, including abstracts of judicial decisions and opinions of the Attorney-General as to internal-revenue cases, covering the period from June 13, 1898, to December 31, 1904, is published for the information of officers of the internal revenue and all others concerned. JOHN W. YERKES, 139527 (3) Commissioner. Claims for refunding documentary stamps should be made on Form 46, accompanied by stamps, and by the instruments or a copy thereof. In cases of claims for amounts paid for stamps used on deeds of property sold subject to mortgage, it must be shown in every case whether the mortgage was assumed. Refund will be made in the name of the party who bore the burden of taxation. (T. D. 212; September 14, 1900.) Claims for abatement of taxes must be filed with collectors of internal revenue. (T. D. 229; October 2, 1900.) Claims for abatement must be presented within two years after payment. Right of action accrues on the payment of the tax and not upon the date of subsequent decisions or rulings. Claims filed with collectors two years or more after payment should be forwarded to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for his action. (T. D. 237; October 25, 1900.) In claims for refunding documentary stamps used in error or in excess, the original instruments to which stamps are affixed, or certified copies thereof, must be filed. Collectors' or deputy collectors' certificates as to copy are sufficient. (T. D. 248; November 20, 1900.) The date of receiving refunding claims by collectors and deputy collectors must be entered on record book No. 22, and collectors should certify on claims the date of receipt. (T. D. 238; October 30, 1900.) The Comptroller of the Treasury, in opinion rendered March 30, 1900, holds, and the Commissioner concurs, that, where penalties were collected by authority of law, the Commissioner has no power to refund, inasmuch as his authority in claims for refunding is confined by the statute to penalties collected "without authority of law." (T. D. 153; June 11, 1900.) Abatement of taxes. Referring to schedule of taxes abated as per order 25865, and to the large number of balances rejected, the collector is advised that these balances should be promply collected by distraint if not paid on demand, the Commissioner adding that "when a warrant of distraint is returned with the report of no property found to be liable to distraint, the deputy reporting must accompany the return warrant with his affidavit on Form 53. If the parties refuse to pay, a The initials T. D., appearing at the end of each abstract and preceding the date thereof, stand for "Treasury Decision." (5) |