On this day, 15 April, millions of US citizens will complete their annual tax returns: for the IRS, today is filing day, colloquially known as tax day. It is also the day on which, in 1755, the first edition of Dr Samuel Johnson‘s Dictionary of the English Language was published. Many of the US taxpayers filing their taxes today would probably apply to their situations the sentiments of one of his better know definitions:

Excise: a hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged not by the common judges of property but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.

The Commissioners of Excise sought the advice of the Attorney General as to whether the definition was defamatory and invited Johnson to amend it. Characteristically, he declined, and the definition appeared in subsequent editions of the Dictionary. However, the Commissioners did not pursue a defamation claim against him, but there is evidence to suggest that they did keep watching to see if he ever amended the definition.

This post is republished from the updates feed of the website for the conference on Restitution of Overpaid Tax (Merton College Oxford, 9 and 10 July 2010).…

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The School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, Pump Court Tax Chambers and One Essex Court are delighted to announce a conference on

Restitution of Overpaid Tax

which will take place in Merton College Oxford on the weekend of Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July 2010.

In Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1993] AC 70 (HL), the House of Lords held that taxes unlawfully exacted by the Revenue are recoverable by the taxpayer as of right. The recent decisions of the Court of Appeal in Test Claimants In the Franked Investment Group Litigation v Commissioners of the Inland Revenue [2010] EWCA Civ 103 (23 February 2010) and FJ Chalke Ltd v Revenue & Customs [2010] EWCA Civ 313 (25 March 2010) demonstrate that many fundamental elements of the Woolwich principle still remain to be resolved. Eminent contributors will explore the general issue of restitution of overpaid taxes from various perspectives – for example, the tax background, various private law claims, alternative public law approaches, defences, and remedies – and in various jurisdictions (such as Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as the UK).

Details Programme | Contributors | Abstracts | Venue | Bookings | Contact | Updates…

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