Gold Mining Encouragement Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES

1940. No. 139.

 

REGULATIONS UNDER THE GOLD MINING ENCOURAGEMENT ACT 1940. *

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Gold Mining Encouragement Act 1940.

Dated this seventeenth day of July, 1940.

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

Treasurer.

 

GOLD MINING ENCOURAGEMENT REGULATIONS.

Part I.—Introductory.

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Gold Mining Encouragement Regulations.

Parts.

2. These Regulations are divided into Parts as follows:—

Part I. —Introductory.

Part II. —Grants to States.

Part III. —Refunds to bona fide Prospectors.

Part IV. —Refunds to Producers other than bona fide prospectors.

Part V. —Miscellaneous.

Definitions.

3. In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears, “the Act” means the Gold Mining Encouragement Act 1940.

Part II.—Grants to States.

Statement of State Treasurer’s account.

4. The statement of the account kept by the Treasurer of a State required to be furnished by paragraph (d) of section 6 of the Act shall show, in respect of the financial year for which the statement is furnished—

(a) the total amount received by the State from the Commonwealth for the purposes of the Act;

(b) the total amount of repayments received by the State in respect of moneys advanced to persons by the State under the authority of the Act;

 

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on , 1940.

 

(c) the total amount of interest paid to the State by persons on advances by the State under the authority of the Act; and

(d) the following particulars of advances made by the State under the authority of the Act—

(i) the date of the advance;

(ii) the person to whom the advance was made;

(iii) the amount of the advance;

(iv) the purpose of the advance; and

(v) the conditions of repayment (if any).

Part III.—Refunds to Bona Fide Prospectors.

Prescribed authority for purposes of refunds of tax to bona fide prospectors.

5. —(1.) The Commissioner of Taxation shall be a prescribed authority for the purposes of the definition of “bona fide prospector” in section 4 of the Act.

(2.) A bona fide prospector may apply to the Commissioner of Taxation, in accordance with a form approved by the Commissioner of Taxation, for a refund of the amount of gold tax upon the first twenty-five ounces of fine gold or part thereof on which he has directly or indirectly paid gold tax in any year.

(3.) The application—

(a) shall be signed by the applicant before a Justice of the Peace, a Commissioner for Declarations, a Commissioner for Affidavits, a Bank Manager, a Mining Warden or Mining Registrar, or a member of the Police Force of the Commonwealth or a State or a Territory of the Commonwealth;

(b) shall be furnished to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation for the State or Territory in which the prospector carries on operations, or, where a prospector carries on operations in the Territory of Papua or the Territory of New Guinea, to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation for the State of Queensland; and

(c) shall be so furnished not later than six months after the last day of the year in which the gold tax was paid.

(4.) Every bona fide prospector who applies for a refund of gold tax under section 7 of the Act shall furnish with the application evidence in writing showing—

(a) the name and address of the person, Bank, or agent of the Bank, to whom or to which the gold in respect of which the tax was directly or indirectly paid, was delivered;

(b) the dates on which the gold was so delivered;

(c) the quantity of gold delivered on each date; and

(d) the amount of gold tax paid or deducted in respect of each quantity of gold so delivered.

Part IV.—Refunds to Producers other than Bona Fide Prospectors.

Prescribed authority for purposes of refunds of tax to producers other than bona fide prospectors.

6. — (1.) The persons for the time being occupying the following positions shall be prescribed authorities for the purposes of sections 8 and 9 of the Act:—

Under-Secretary, Department of Mines, New South Wales

Secretary for Mines, Victoria.

 

Under-Secretary, Department of Mines, Queensland.

Director of Mines, South Australia.

Under-Secretary for Mines, Western Australia.

Director of Mines, Tasmania.

Director of Mines, Northern Territory.

Director of Mines, Papua.

Secretary for Mines, New Guinea.

(2.) A producer (not being a bona fide prospector) may furnish to the prescribed authority specified in this regulation for the State or Territory in which the producer carries on mining operations, an application for a refund of such amount of the gold tax directly or indirectly paid by that producer, on or after the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and forty, in respect of the gold produced by him in any quarter (not being a quarter which commenced before that date) as is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

(3.) Every such application shall—

(a) be in accordance with a form approved by the Commissioner of Taxation;

(b) contain the information and particulars mentioned or referred to in that form;

(c) be supported by a declaration as therein set forth;

(d) be accompanied by all such statements and other documents as are mentioned in the form or as are required by the Commissioner of Taxation; and

(e) be furnished within sixty days after the close of the quarter to which the application relates, or within such further time as the prescribed authority to whom the application is furnished may allow.

(4.) Every producer (not being a bona fide prospector) who applies for a refund of gold tax under section 8 of the Act shall furnish with the application evidence in writing showing—

(a) the name and address of the person, Bank, or agent of the Bank, to whom or to which the gold produced during the quarter was delivered;

(b) the dates on which the gold was so delivered;

(c) the quantity of gold delivered on each date; and

(d) the amount of gold tax paid or deducted in respect of each quantity of gold so delivered.

Depreciation.

7.—(1.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, for the purposes of section 10 of the Act the amount which shall be taken into account in respect of depreciation shall be, at the option of the producer, either—

(a) a sum calculated at the rate of 12½ per centum per annum on the depreciated value of the plant and machinery owned by the producer and used by him in the production of the gold; or

(b) a sum calculated at any rate not greater than 12½ per centum per annum on the depreciated value of such plant and machinery.

 

(2.) The rate adopted by the producer in the exercise of his option under the last preceding sub-regulation shall apply to all plant and machinery then owned or subsequently acquired by him and shall not be altered unless he satisfies the prescribed authority that there are circumstances which justify such alteration.

(3.) In any case where a producer has acquired any plant and machinery from a person who has used that plant and machinery and the value of the consideration given there for exceeds the value which would have been the depreciated value at the date of acquisition by that producer if he had owned the plant and machinery at the date of acquisition by the person from whom the plant and machinery was acquired, such secondly mentioned value shall be deemed to be the cost price of that plant and machinery to the producer unless the Commissioner of Taxation is of the opinion that the circumstances are such that the consideration given for that plant and machinery should be the cost price.

(4.) Tor the purposes of this regulation—

“depreciated value” at any time means the cost price of the plant and machinery delivered at the mining property from which the gold was produced and installed ready for use less depreciation in respect thereof calculated on a diminishing cost basis at the rate adopted by the producer in pursuance of this regulation from the date of acquisition of the plant and machinery or, if the prescribed authority so determines, from the date on which the plant and machinery is first used.

Expense of administration.

8. —(1.) In determining the amount of the expense of administration to be taken into account for the purpose of section 10 of the Act there shall be taken as a basis—

(a) if the accounts of the producer are kept in such a manner that each item of expense of administration is apportioned over the actual period to which it relates—the amount charged in the accounts of the quarter during which the gold was produced or—

(b) if the accounts of the producer are not so kept—

(i) one-fourth of the expense of administration charged in the accounts of the producer for his annual accounting period terminating within, or immediately prior to, that quarter;

(ii) if at the end of the quarter the producer has been carrying on gold mining operations for a period of less than twelve months but more than three months—the amount which bears to the amount of the expense of administration charged in the accounts for that period the same proportion as a period of three months bears to the period during which the producer has been carrying on gold mining operations; or

(iii) if at the end of the quarter the producer has been carrying on gold mining operations for a period of less than three months—the amount of the expense of administration charged in the accounts of the producer for that period.

 

(2.) The amount ascertained in accordance with sub-regulation (1.) of this regulation shall be apportioned in accordance with the following formula:—

The amount so ascertained X	The total proceeds from the sale of gold in the quarter to which the application relates, less the amount of gold tax paid in respect of that gold
	The total income of the producer for that period less any income which is by regulation 9 hereof required to be deducted from the cost of producing gold

and only the amount so arrived at shall be taken into account.

Value of other metals, minerals and chemicals.

9. For the purposes of section 10 of the Act, in the case of a producer who in the course of producing any gold produces other metals, minerals or chemicals, there shall, in arriving at the cost of producing the gold, be deducted from the total of the items of cost taken into account the selling value of such other metals, minerals or chemicals.

Development.

10. For the purposes of section 10 of the Act, development of the mining property from which the gold was produced means all mining work which has for its object the ascertainment of the existence, extent or value of the gold in that property, and also includes drilling and the preparation of the mine for the continuous production of gold there from by the provision of the necessary shafts, drives, cross cuts, rises, winzes and adequate working faces.

Part V.—Miscellaneous.

Signature of applications, &c.

11. Every application, statement or other communication required by the Act or these Regulations to be made or forwarded to or furnished to the Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority shall be signed—

(a) in the case of an individual—by that individual;

(b) in the case of an application by or on behalf of two or more persons pursuant to section 8 of the Act—by any one of those persons;

(c) in the case of trustees—by any trustee resident in Australia, or where there is no trustee resident in Australia, by the agent in Australia for the trustees; and

(d) in the case of a company—by an officer of the company appointed by the company in that behalf of whose appointment notice has been given by the company to the prescribed authority in the State or Territory of the Commonwealth in which the company carries on mining operations.

Notations on applications.

12. — (1.) The Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority may cause or permit his officers to make on any application such marks, figures and annotations as the Commissioner of Taxation or the prescribed authority thinks fit.

 

(2.) The marks, figures and annotations shall be made in ink of a colour different from that of the ink used in the application,

Information to be furnished.

13. The Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority may by notice in writing require any person whether a producer or not to furnish him with such information as he may require in relation to applications for refunds of gold tax.

Service of notices, &c.

14. Any notice or other communication by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority may be served upon any person—

(a) by causing it to be personally served on him;

(b) by leaving it at his last known address; or

(c) by posting it by pre-paid letter post addressed to him at his last known address.

Signatures.

15. Any notice to be given by the Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority may be given by an officer of the Commissioner of Taxation or an officer of the prescribed authority duly authorized in that behalf, and any notice purporting to be signed by authority of the Commissioner of Taxation or of the prescribed authority shall be as valid and effectual for all purposes as if signed by the Commissioner of Taxation or the prescribed authority in person.

Failure to comply with requirements.

16. Any person who fails to furnish any information or comply with any requirement of the Commissioner of Taxation or of a prescribed authority as and when required by him for the purposes of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

Penalty: One hundred pounds or imprisonment for six months.

Place where offence committed.

17. Any offence against these Regulations shall be deemed to have been committed either—

(a) at the place where the information should in accordance with these Regulations or the requirements of the Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority have been furnished or where the requirement should have been complied with; or

(b) at the usual or last known place of business or abode of the defendant,

and may be charged as having been committed at either of those places.

Signature deemed to be duly signed.

18. —(1.) Any notice or other document hearing the written, stamped or printed signature of the Commissioner of Taxation or of a prescribed authority shall, until the contrary is proved, he deemed to have been duly signed by the person by whom, it purports to have been signed.

(2.) Judicial notice shall be taken of every such signature and of the fact that the person whose signature it purports to he holds or has held the office of Commissioner of Taxation or of a prescribed authority referred to in this regulation.

 

Access to books, &c.

19. The Commissioner of Taxation or a prescribed authority or an officer authorized by the Commissioner or prescribed authority in that behalf shall at all times have full and free access to all buildings, places, books, documents and other papers for any of the purposes of the Act or these Regulations and for that purpose may make extracts from or copies of any such books, documents or papers.

 

By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.