informed that a manufacturer who has original and unbroken stamped factory packages of snuff on hand July 1, 1901, tax paid at the rate of 12 cents per pound, will be entitled to a rebate of 2.4 cents per pound, but no rebate will be paid on goods sold by the manufacturer and removed from the factory on and after that date. A manufacturer desiring to make claim for rebate on stamped packages of snuff will be required to inventory all such packages on hand July 1, 1901. Claims will be made on Form 481, which will be furnished to manufacturers by the collectors of their respective districts. No rebate will be made on stamped packages of tobacco, snuff, or cigars in the hands of dealers, except such as were purchased previous to July 1, 1901, and which are in their hands or in transit on that date, and no rebate will be made on unused stamps issued previous to July 1, 1901, and held by manufacturers of tobacco on that date, nor can such unused stamps be exchanged for other stamps issued on a basis of 20 per cent discount. If it should be held that unused stamps in the hands of manufacturers of tobacco can be redeemed for the purpose of securing the discount or the difference in the rate of tax, such stamps must be redeemed under the provisions of the act of May 12, 1900. Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Messrs. J. B. HOLLOWAY COMPANY, Louisville, Ky. (328.) Stamp tax-Export bills of lading. Stamp tax on export bills of lading declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and stamps no longer required on such instruments. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 19, 1901. SIR: Replying to your letter of the 17th instant, relative to the stamp tax on export bills of lading, I have to inform you that on the 15th instant the United States Supreme Court, in the case of United States v. Fairbanks, decided that A stamp tax on a foreign bill of lading is in substance and effect equivalent to a tax on the articles included in that bill of lading, and, therefore, a tax or duty on exports and in conflict with the constitutional prohibition. In obedience to this decision collectors of internal revenue will no longer require stamps to be affixed as required in Schedule A, act of June 13, 1898, to— Bills of lading or receipts (other than charter party) for any goods, merchandise, or effects to be exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place. Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. CHAS. H. TREAT, Collector Internal Revenue, New York, N. Y. (329.) Memoranda of brokers—Paragraph 3, section 8, act of March 2, 1901. Persons engaged in taking orders for transactions described in paragraph 3, section 8, act of March 2, 1901, are imperatively required by the statute to issue a memorandum for every such order, and to affix and cancel the requisite stamp thereon. They are not relieved from this requirement by the fact that they transmit these orders to their correspondents elsewhere. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 20, 1901. GENTLEMEN: I have received your letter of the 4th instant, referring to ruling 21711 and suggesting that the position taken in my letter to you of the 27th ultimo, relating to bucket-shop brokers and the stamping of their memoranda, is in conflict with that ruling. Ruling 21711 is based upon a different law from the ruling contained in my letter to you of the 27th ultimo. The former ruling had reference to memoranda of transactions of brokers described in the second paragraph of section 2 of the act of June 13, 1898. Every person engaged in the transactions described in the third paragraph of section 8 of the act of March 2, 1901, is (although all the orders received from his customers upon margins deposited by them are transmitted to another bucket-shop broker elsewhere) required to file with the collector the "notice in writing under oath" as a broker of the second class himself, and is required to deliver to each of his customers in the transaction, "at the time of making the same, a written memorandum * * * to which the proper stamp shall be, before delivery, affixed." He can not be relieved of the necessity of doing this by reason of the fact stated by you that he transmits to a bucket-shop broker elsewhere "a single order covering these several transactions," on which order the latter issues to his correspondent "a single memorandum contract," to which the requisite stamp tax is affixed. Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Messrs. JOHNSON & RICHARDS, St. Louis, Mo. (330.) Legacy tax. Legacy taxes under the act of June 13, 1898, as amended, due and payable in one year after the death of the testator.-Taxes are to be deducted from the legacy.-The notice required to be given to the collector by the executor, etc., within thirty days after he qualifies, must be in writing. No special form is prescribed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 22, 1901. SIR: This office is in receipt of your letter of the 11th ultimo, asking several questions relative to the act of June 13, 1898, as amended by the act of March 2, 1901. In reply to the portion relating to the tax on legacies, you are informed that section 30, as amended, provides that the tax or duty shall be due and payable within one year after the death of the testator, and this must be done notwithstanding the laws of the State of Missouri, which allow two years for settlement of the estate. If at the end of two years the executor finds that he has paid too small a tax, a supplemental return must be made, and if it is shown that he has paid an excessive tax, a claim for the refund of the amount paid in excess can be filed. This can be made by the executor or administrator of the estate within two years after the cause of action accrues (sec. 3228, Rev. Stat.). The taxes paid under the provisions of sections 29 and 30, as amended, are to be deducted from the particular legacy or distributive share, on account of which the same is charged. Section 30, as amended, provides that every executor, administrator, or trustee, having in charge or trust a legacy or distributive share, shall give notice thereof to the collector within thirty days after he shall have taken charge of such trust. No special form of notice is prescribed, except that it must be in writing. Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. H. C. GRENNER, Collector First District, St. Louis, Mo. (331.) Special tax-Memoranda, etc.-Paragraph 3, section 8, act of March 2, 1901. A person soliciting and receiving orders for transmission described in the third paragraph of section 8, act of March 2, 1901, on his own account and for commissions, who transmits these orders to a correspondent living in another city, is required to pay special tax provided for in that paragraph of the statute, and to keep a book therein prescribed, and to issue and stamp a memorandum for each of these orders received by him. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 22, 1901. SIR: Your letter of the 3d instant has been received, concerning a person who is engaged in receiving orders for transmission by telegraph or telephone to a broker, class 2, living in another city. You say: Such person is soliciting business for his own account and is compensated by a division of the usual commissions. And you ask: 1. Is such person required to pay tax as a "broker, class 2?" 2. Is he required to keep a record of the orders forwarded for execution? 3. Is he required to issue memoranda stamped at rate of 2 cents per hundred? The answer is in the affirmative to all of these questions, the orders taken by him and transmitted to the broker, class 2, being closed or terminated in the manner described in the third paragraph of section 8, Schedule A, act of March 2, 1901, without being carried to any board of trade or exchange, and each there completed as "a bona fide transaction on such board of trade or exchange." You further inquire: 4. If such person should send the orders to a regular member of a board of trade with instructions that his orders shall be executed upon a board of trade, what are his liabilities to special and stamp tax under the act of March 2, 1901? If each of these orders is in fact completed on the board of trade as "a bona fide transaction," he is simply a commercial broker and is required to pay special tax accordingly and not to pay the additional special tax contemplated by the third paragraph of this statute. The question as to stamp tax is answered in Circular 598 (internalrevenue ruling 318). Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. F. E. KELLOGG, Collector Sixth District, Kansas City, Mo. (332.) Packing domestic cigars. .Manufacturers required to put up their cigars in boxes not before used for that purpose. If boxes are made from some material other than wood, the manufacturer is required to submit a sample box to the Commissioner for his approval.-Glass jars are not approved as substitutes for wooden boxes for packing cigars. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 25, 1901. SIR: This office has received your letter dated the 18th instant, inclosing one from Messrs. Yocum Brothers, manufacturers of cigars at Reading, advising that this firm desires, if it meets with the approval of this office, to place some orders for glass jars intended to be used as statutory packages for packing cigars. In reply, you are informed that under a recent decision of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury O. L. Spaulding (T. D. 22749), all imported cigars must, before delivery, be put up in boxes, containing a statutory uumber of cigars, as provided by sections 2804 and 3402 of the Revised Statutes. This office, in view of that decision, holds that all domestic cigars shall, before removal from the manufactory for sale or consumption in the United States, be put up by the manufacturer thereof in boxes not before used for that purpose, as provided by sections 3392 and 3397 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and acts amendatory thereof. Such boxes may be made from wood, metal, paper, or other materials, used separately or in combination. If the boxes are made from some material other than wood, sample packages must be submitted to the office for approval under regulations No. 8, page 54, as provided by section 3362, Revised Statutes. If a manufacturer has heretofore submitted sample glass jars to this office and the same have been approved for his use as substitutes for wooden boxes for packing cigars, the manufacturer will be privileged to use such glass jars until his present supply is exhausted, provided they are not of such value and character as will induce manufacturers or dealers to reuse them in violation of law. Any ruling that this office may have heretofore made authorizing the use of glass jars as statutory packages for packing cigars can not be regarded as vesting in the manufacturer a perpetual right to use such packages in that connection. Respectfully, J. W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. P. A. MOCLAIN, Collector First District, Philadelphia, Pa. (333.) Export bills of lading. Refund of amount paid for stamps affixed to export bills of lading. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 25, 1901. SIR: Your telegram of the 23d received, and in reply you are informed that the United States Supreme Court has declared the tax of 10 cents on export bills of lading unconstitutional.a (TREASURY DECISIONS, internal revenue ruling 339.) Express receipts for goods and merchandise to be transported from the United States to a foreign country not exempt from tax under decisions of United States Supreme Court in the matter of export bills of lading. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., April 26, 1901. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, in which you ask if the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court, declaring the tax on export bills of lading to be uncon a Regarding claims for the refunding of the amount paid for stamps used on such bills of lading, reference is made to the ruling of this office in circular letter of June 5, 1901 (TREASURY DECISIONS, internal-revenue ruling 355). |