company or association, or insurance company, subject to this tax, may designate the last day of any month in the year as the day of the closing of its fiscal year and shall be entitled to have the tax payable by it computed upon the basis of the net income ascertained as herein provided for the year ending on the day so designated in the year preceding the date of assessment instead of upon the basis of the net income for the calendar year preceding the date of assessment; and it shall give notice of the day it has thus designated as the closing of its fiscal year to the collector of the district in which its principal business office is located at any time not less than thirty days prior to the first day of March of the year in which its return would be filed if made upon the basis of the calendar year; (b) Every corporation, joint-stock company or association, or insurance company, subject to the tax herein imposed, shall, on or before the first day of March, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and the first day of March in each year thereafter, or, if it has designated a fiscal year for the computation of its tax, then within sixty days after the close of such fiscal year ending prior to December thirtyfirst, nineteen hundred and sixteen, and the close of each such fiscal year thereafter, render a true and accurate return of its annual net income in the manner and form to be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, and containing such facts, data, and information as are appropriate and in the opinion of the commissioner necessary to determine the correctness of the net income returned and to carry out the provisions of this title. The return shall be sworn to by the president, vice-president, or other principal officer, and by the treasurer or assistant treasurer. The return shall be made to Returns When Due Where Trustees and Others Keeping of the collector of the district in which is located the principal office of the corporation, company, or association, where are kept its books of account and other data from which the return is prepared, or in the case of a foreign corporation, company, or association, to the collector of the district in which is located its principal place of business in the United States, or if it have no principal place of business, office, or agency in the United States, then to the collector of internal revenue at Baltimore, Maryland. All such returns shall as received be transmitted forthwith by the collector to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue; (c) In cases wherein receivers, trustees in bankruptcy, or assignees are operating the property or business of corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, or insurance companies, subject to tax imposed by this title, such receivers, trustees, or assignees shall make returns of net income as and for such corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and insurance companies, in the same manner and form as such organizations are hereinbefore required to make returns, and any income tax due on the basis of such returns made by receivers, trustees, or assignees shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as if assessed directly against the organizations of whose businesses or properties they have custody and control; (d) A corporation, joint-stock company or association, or insurance company, keeping accounts upon any basis other than that of actual receipts and disbursements, unless such other basis does not clearly reflect its income, may, subject to regulations made by the Comissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, make its return upon the basis upon which its accounts are kept, in which case the tax shall be computed upon its income as so returned; (e) All the provisions of this title relating to the tax authorized and required to be deducted and withheld and paid to the officer of the United States Government authorized to receive the same from the income of nonresident alien individuals from sources within the United States shall be made applicable to incomes derived from interest upon bonds and mortgages or deeds of trust or similar obligations of domestic or other resident corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and insurance companies by nonresident alien firms, copartnerships, companies, corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and insurance companies not engaged in business or trade within the United States and not having any office or place of business therein; (f) Likewise, all the provisions of this title relating to the tax authorized and required to be deducted and withheld and paid to the officer of the United States Government authorized to receive the same from the income of nonresident alien individuals from sources within the United States shall be made applicable to income derived from dividends upon the capital stock or from the net earnings of domestic or other resident corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and insurance companies by nonresident alien companies, corporations, joint-stock companies or asociations, and insurance companies not engaged in business or trade within the United States and not having any office or place of business therein. Assessment and Administration. Sec. 14 (a) All assessments shall be made and the several corporations, joint-stock companies or Deduction at Source Non-resident Interest Dividends Assessment Payment of Tax associations, and insurance companies shall be notified of the amount for which they are respectively liable on or before the first day of June of each successive year, and said assessment shall be paid on or before the fifteenth day of June: Provided, That every corporation, joint-stock company or association, and insurance company, computing taxes upon the income of the fiscal year which it may designate in the manner hereinbefore provided, shall pay the taxes due under its assessment within one hundred and five days after the date upon which it is required to file its list or return of income for assessment; except in cases of refusal or neglect to make such return, and in cases of erroneous, false, or fraudulent returns, in which cases the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall, upon the discovery thereof, at any time within three years after said return is due, make a return upon information obtained as provided for in this title or by existing law; and the assessment made by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue thereon shall be paid by such corporation, joint-stock company or association, or insurance company immediately upon notification of the amount of such assessment; and to any sum or sums due and unpaid after the fifteenth day of June in any year, or after one hundred and five days from the date on which the return of income is required to be made by the taxpayer, and after ten days' notice and demand thereof by the collector, there shall be added the sum of five per centum on the amount of tax unpaid and interest at the rate of one per centum per month upon said tax from the time the same becomes due; Provided, That upon the examination of any return of income made pursuant to this title, the Act of August fifth, nineteen hundred and nine, entitled "An Act to provide revenue, equalize duties and encourage the industries of the United States, and for other purposes," and the Act of October third, nineteen hundred and thirteen, entitled, “An Act to reduce tariff duties and to provide revenue for the Government, and for other purposes", if it shall appear that amounts of tax have ben paid in excess of those properly due, the taxpayer shall be permitted to present a claim for refund thereof notwithstanding the provisions of section thirty-two hundred and twenty-eight of the Revised Statutes; (b) When the assessment shall be made, as provided in this title, the returns, together with any corrections thereof which may have been made by the commissioner, shall be filed in the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and shall constitute public records and be open to inspection as such: Provided, That any and all such returns shall be open to inspection only upon the order of the President, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and approved by the President: Provided further, That the proper officers of any State imposing a general income tax may, upon the request of the governor thereof, have access to said returns or to an abstract thereof, showing the name and income of each such corporation, joint-stock company or association, or insurance company, at such times and in such maner as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; (c) If any of the corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, or insurance companies aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to make a return at the time or times hereinbefore specified in each year, or shall render a false or fraudulent return, such corporation, joint-stock company or association, or insurance company shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding $10,000; Provided, That How Returns Are Penalty |